Kamali from Nadukkaveri

Kamali from Nadukkaveri
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rajasekar Duraisamy
Written by	Rajasekar Duraisamy
Starring	Anandhi Rohit Saraf
Cinematography	Jegadeesan Logayan
Music by	Dheena Dhayalan
Production company	Abbundu Studios
Release date	19 February 2021 (2021-02-19)
Running time	159 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Kamali From Nadukkaveri is a 2021 Indian Tamil language drama film written and directed by Rajasekar Duraisamy in his directorial debut. The film stars Anandhi, Rohit Saraf (in his Tamil debut) and Pratap Pothen. It was shot in 2019, and had its theatrical release on 19 February 2021.

Plot

Kamali Shanmugam is a naughty, happy-go-lucky girl who lives in the village Nadukkaveri in Tamil Nadu. She studies in a Tamil medium state board school there. She has an elder brother who studies in a convent because her father doesn't believe in properly educating a girl. Her brother earns the fury of their father after he fails his 12th board exams. She doesn't have a big dream until she sees the interview of the CBSE national topper Ashwin, who later goes to IIT Madras. Kamali falls in love with Ashwin at first sight whom she has never seen before and aspires to join IIT only for him. She realises that joining there is very hard for a girl like her and seeks help from her best friend, Valli, who knows Kamali's love for Ashwin, to help her. Her father puts forth a condition that if she fails to clear the exams, she had to marry her relative. Subramani, a teacher in her school suggests her to seek guidance from retired professor Arivudainambi but a trouble seems to await her as the professor has been the person who was irritated by Kamali's tactics earlier. Yet she tries to impress Arivu, to no avail, as he refuses, in anger, to coach her. However, the following day, he calls to apologise to her only to realise that she really has the potential to crack Jee Mains and Advanced . Since, that day, Kamali regularly and sincerely attends coaching sessions that helps her excel in studies at her school as well. She successfully cracks the entrance exams that earns her a seat in the B.Tech Computer Science department in IIT Madras.

Kamali shifts to her hostel room there that is shared with an arrogant girl, chemical engineering batch. She becomes jealous upon learning that a village girl like Kamali scored better than her in the entrance exam. Kamali, being childish and innocent, considers her a friend and tells her roommate that she came there in search of a boy she is in love with. Kamali stumbles upon Ashwin there, and she madly starts to follow him wherever he goes and comes. She is shown to be jealous of Ashwin's best friend, Priya with whom he is close with. All seems to go fine until the semester results come out and Kamali realises that she has failed the exams. A professor comes to her and asks about the reason for the failure, a frightful surprise waits for her when one of her classmates tell the sir that she was busy wooing her "prince". She feels dejected when the students there nickname her 'Cinderella'. She becomes the famous topic there and everyone learns about her love.

Embarrassed, she sits in a deserted cafeteria only to be interrupted by Ashwin and his gang. She overhears Ashwin's conversation about her being the 'Cinderella' girl and her heart breaks when he tells his friends that he definitely cannot be the 'joker' Kamali is in love with. Heartbroken, she confronts Her roommate when she realises that her Roommate was the one who spread her secret about her love. Her Roommate, who now started to like Kamali, apologises to her but Kamali refuses to forgive her and angrily returns to Nadukkaveri. She meets her professor Arivu, who now teaches many kids there to write entrance exams. She realises that her teacher loves and trusts her immensely, she becomes ashamed of herself for following a boy instead of studying. Reinvigorated, she returns to her college. Kamali now starts to focus completely on studies and pushes her thoughts of Ashwin completely away and avoids him. She starts getting good grades there. Roommate and Kamali become friends and write a quiz. To Kamali's dismay, she learns that Ashwin and she, are selected for the inter-IIT National Quiz competition and refuses to go. Her roommate convinces her telling that it may be a good exposure for her. Ashwin becomes annoyed when he finds that Kamali is selected instead of his friend, Priya.

Ashwin, Kamali and an IIT professor travel to Delhi for the competition. She, uncomfortable with Ashwin's presence, spills coffee on her dress and embarrasses herself in front of Ashwin. He asks her if she is still in love with her 'prince' to which she replies she does not know but definitely he is her inspiration. Kamali gets an unknown admirer, Varun Singh, a contestant from IIT Kanpur. Varun tries to flirt with her during breakfast which Ashwin realises and advises her to stay away from Varun. The competition, telecast in TV is watched proudly by Kamali's family. Kamali blunders in the first round but qualifies to finals after another team gets disqualified. Ashwin angrily scolds her later. IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur ties in the final round. For the tie breaker, Varun Singh from the opposite team, chooses Kamali as his opponent realising her weakness. But Kamali however answers correctly to win the Quiz making Ashwin delighted. Her family, who had been watching her in TV, get happy tears since Kamali becomes an inspiration for all children in Nadukkaveri. Ashwin realises that he was Kamali's crush. He stares at Kamali while returning in the train. He responds by pouring the coffee on himself when she finds him looking at her. He asks her if the boy she loved was him. She responds it may be, smiling back.

Cast

• Anandhi as Kamali
• Rohit Saraf as Ashwin Anand
• Pratap Pothen as Arivudainambi
• Imman Annachi as Subramani
• Azhagam Perumal as Shanmugam, Kamali's father
• Sushila Natraj as Kamali's grandmother
• Rekha Suresh as Kamali's mother
• Prabhakaran Ramu as Vishwa
• Srija Priyadharshini Jayaseelan as Valli
• Abitha Venkat as Nethra, Kamali's roommate
• T. M. Karthik as Professor
• Giri Balasubramanium as Quizmaster
• Syed Irfan as Varun Singh from IIT Kanpur
• Pradeep K Vijayan as Aparna Coaching Centre owner

Production

The film began production under the title Enga Andha Vaan in July 2019, and was completed by November that year. It was shot in various locations including Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pondicherry.

Release

Kamali From Nadukkaveri was initially slated for a theatrical release on 17 April 2020, but was released on 19 February 2021 after delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Critical reception

Navein Darshan of Cinema Express wrote, "Kamali from Nadukkaveri's central theme is undoubtedly well-intentioned. But all the blemishes in the writing and making eat away at the entertainment quotient of the film". Pradeep Kumar of The Hindu criticised the film's "simplistic" plot and lack of entertainment value, concluding that it was "an unapologetic, feature-length advertisement for the IITs". Cinema Vikatan reviewed the film more favourably, but said the screenplay leaves the audience confused for almost half the film, with no idea where the story is headed, calling that the biggest problem with the screenplay. News Today wrote, "The director has captured life in IIT campus close to reality and emotional dilemma of a rural girl who finds herself in a concrete jungle like Chennai well. The importance of education is conveyed at its best", calling Anandhi "the flesh and blood of the film" and concluded that "But for melodramatic quiz scenes at the end, Kamali From Nadukkaveri is here to engage you". Ashutosh Mohan of Film Companion gave the film a negative review mainly for its writing, and felt the title character was not well-developed. Thinkal Menon of The Times of India wrote, "Working on the believability factor and a tighter screenplay would have made the film a more gripping one".

External links

• Kamali from Nadukkaveri at IMDb 
• Kamali from Nadukkaveri at Rotten Tomatoes