Kalaignan (1993)

English translation: Artist

Director: G. B. Vijay

Story: G. B. Vijay

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Bindhya

Music: Ilayaraaja

Time: 143 minutes

Bottom-line: Unfurls at break-neck pace; a tense murder-mystery

One of Kamal Hassan’s most underrated films (I can’t imagine why!), this 1993 thriller stars Kamal and Bindhya in the lead roles, with Sivaranjani and Nassar in the supporting roles. A film more violent than its contemporaries, I still consider it to be one of the best mystery films in Tamil cinema history, and of course, it features one of my most favourite songs from Indian cinema: Enthan Nenjil Neengaatha.

A Tamil pop singer based in Bangalore, Inderjeet (Hassan), has a large following among his female fans. The film opens with one dancer in his troop, Sandhya (Sivaranjani), having her throat slit and being thrown off a building to her death. Sandhya’s sister, Divya (Bindhya) comes to Bangalore to find out the killer. She runs into Inderjeet by mistake, but is angered at his haughtiness and short-temper. After he saves her from a bunch of thugs, she starts to become closer to him. The police detective (Nassar) warns her that the chief suspect in the murder is Inderjeet himself, and sure enough, as Bindhya enquires about him, she finds more incriminating evidence. With another fan of Inderjeet being murdered in the same way, the police and Divya confront Inderjeet, and he comes clean with his version of the truth. Is he really the murderer? Or is someone framing him?

 

Hassan as Inderjeet

Kalaignan brilliantly blends violence, drama, mystery and revenge in one neat package. Through clever camerawork, the audience is lured into believing that Inderjeet is the murderer. The different stories told by a cab driver and visual image of Inderjeet’s pair of gloves emphasise his guilt all the more. Inderjeet’s version of the truth brings in a lot of further twists. There is always a constant dilemma over which character is good and who is not. The only thing that plays spoilsport in the tense suspense is the car chase in the climax.

 

Bindhya as Divya

The murder scenes are a bit grotesque to watch, but the camerawork throughout the film is masterfully done. The music is not that great except for the one aforementioned song. Kamal Hassan – as always – has given an impressive performance. Seeing him “appear” in a villainous role was again, exciting to watch (after his role in Sigappu Rojakkal). Bindhya’s performance was also good.  

With highly satisfying plot twists (and ending), terrific pace of storytelling and good acting, Kalaignan may not be Kamal’s best movie, but is definitely worth a watch for all those wanting a good thriller.

My Rating: 3.5/5