Kappal

Plot

The story starts with Vasu (Vaibhav) narrating his story from childhood. He has four close friends (Karunakaran, Arjunan, Venkat Sundar, Karthik Priyadarshan) and they hero worship Seenu Anna (Robo Shankar) for his dedication to friendship and one day he advises to them that marriage will spoil friendship and all the friends take this seriously, except for Vasu, who always has a liking for girls, and he is forced to promise not to marry lifelong along with his friends. After failing many attempts of falling in love at school and college (his friends spread rumor that Vasu is gay), Vasu decides to leave to Chennai so that he would get an opportunity to love a girl. He stays with Nelson (VTV Ganesh) who has affair with many rich and beautiful girls and he persuades him to trap a rich girl citing that middle class and college girls will have bigger competition and high expectations but super rich girls have a very less expectations and many guys do not try to date them assuming its impossible to woo them. Also he hands over the pub membership card to Vasu so that he can get to see many rich girls. During a visit to pub, arrives Deepika (Sonam Bajwa) in Audi car but with a male friend who collapses due to over drinking. Vasu falls in love with her instantly and he helps her lift the friend and also accompanies her to the pub and befriends her. But next day when he visits her home she is unable to recall about him since she was drunk the previous night and rejects his love advances. After all the cop thrashing and goons threatening episode, Deepika falls in love with him. Meanwhile his friends come to know about his love affair and threaten him to break up with her. But when he acts like committing suicide they act as if they accept his love but secretly plan to irritate Deepika and break their love. Deepika gets annoyed by their behavior and soon they manage to create a rift between both and the duo get separated. Deepika gets depressed and decides to marry a family friend who keeps proposing her from the beginning. Also, Vasu is very depressed after the breakup, and soon his friends decide that the only way they can see their friend happy is to patch him up with his lady love, and they plot many master plans to stop the wedding, and finally the wedding is stopped. Deepika then gets married to Vasu and they lead a happy life. Vasu also keeps in touch with his friends forever.

Cast

Production

Karthik Krish, who had apprenticed under director Shankar in Enthiran (2010), wrote the comedy script and had hoped to sign either actors Jai or Sivakarthikeyan for the role, before selecting Vaibhav. The film began its shoot in March 2013 with scenes shot in Chennai with the lead cast. Initially Ashrita Shetty had signed up to portray the film's lead actress but delays meant that she was replaced by newcomer Sonam Bajwa. Natarajan Sankaran replaced Santhosh Narayanan as the film's music composer, although the latter agreed to sing a song for the film's soundtrack.

In April 2014, the film began another schedule with the director remarking that Vaibhav's character in the film would have shades of the role portrayed by Karthik in Mani Ratnam's Mouna Ragam (1986). After a successful screening in September 2014, director Shankar bought the film and made plans to release it, marking a comeback to film production after a four-year hiatus.

Soundtrack

The music and background score of the film were composed by Natarajan Sankaran. The soundtrack features six tracks that belonged to varied genres, one of them being a remix of the song "Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu", originally composed by Ilaiyaraaja for Karagattakaran (1989). The soundtrack album was released on 22 November 2014. Kappal songs topped in FM station like the Radio Mirchi Top 5 for 6 weeks and the Suryan FM Top 10 and held 2nd place in the iTunes chart for 2 weeks, especially Kadhal Cassatta become the most favourite song in all stations.

Critical reception

The Hindu wrote, "Kappal fulfils its only purpose — to be funny...here’s actor Vaibhav’s big breakthrough as a solo hero. This Kappal sails strong for the most part". Sify called Kappal a "watchable fun ride with witty dialogues and good writing". Rediff gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "There may be flaws, but there is no denying that Karthik G Krish’s Kappal is thoroughly entertaining. But do remember to leave your thinking cap at home". The Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Karthik G Krish, is not after heavy philosophy but entertainment. So, he constructs the film as a comedy that is often silly, at times offensive but overall funny". silverscreen.in wrote, "Kappal is like that old joke, which only gets better with age. It also sustains the good spirit that the riotous pattimandram (debate talk show) of Solomon Pappaiah offers on festive mornings". The New Indian Express wrote, "Directed by a debutant, it’s meant to be a total comic entertainer. But then it depends on each one’s perception of what they feel are genuine comic moments"...going on to add that the film was "comedy probably targeted at the lowest common denominator in the audience".

Box office

The film is reported to have grossed around ₹5.7 crore (US$890,000) in TN and ₹2 crore (US$310,000) from Rest of India and Overseas.The film collected ₹8 crore (US$1.2 million) from its theatrical full run.