Kolanji movie review: Father-son bonding, lacks strong story

Direction: Dhanaram Saravanan

Cast: Samuthirakani, Kirubakaran, Sanghavi

Kolanji produced by director Naveen of Moodar Koodam fame had been lying in the cans for a long time and is finally going to see the light of the day.

Set in a rural Tamil Nadu, the story revolves around a young school-going Kolanji (Kirubakaran) and his love-hate relationship with his strict dad Appasamy  (Samuthirakani). Kolanji’s boisterous nature always lands him in trouble. Rarely is he studious. He roams around with his talkative friend Adivangi (Nasath). And his unruly acts provoke Appasamy who scolds and beats him, although Kolanji’s mom Pushpam (Sanghavi back after a long) comes to his support. Yet another factor that distances Kolanji from his dad is that the latter is considerate with his younger son. Meanwhile, an incident separates Kolanji’s parents and thus Pushpam walks out of the house along with her elder son.

Then there’s this parallel uninspiring love track between Gemini (Rajaji), uncle of Kolanji and his ‘morai ponnu’ Pongodi (Naina Sarwar). Whether Appasamy and Kolanji change for the better and reunite forms the reminder.

The film has strong semblance to the movie VIP, where Samuthirakani is always at loggerheads with his elder son played by Dhanush and takes sides with his younger son. However, VIP was set in an urban milieu and had a story, but Kolanji lacks a strong story and is just a compilation of mischievous actions of the 11-year-old Kirubakaran.

Kirubakaran who resembles Dhanush is good and Nasath evokes laughter with his witty one-liners, though going overboard many times.