Laudable attempt by debut director

Cast: Shaan Kumar, Nivedhitha, Abhinay, Ganja Karuppu, Nalini
Director: Abhishek
Rating: * *1/2

Tamil cinema has come to a stage where film makers are experimenting with various themes that prompt an audience to think long after they have left the cinema hall. TV actor-turned-film maker Abhishek’s debut attempt Kadhai also belongs to this genre. While the young director has come up with a unique script, in the process of narration the story goes off tangent.
The story begins with acclaimed writer Narain (Shaan) receiving the Booker prize for his novel which highlights the trauma of a girl who undergoes and abortion. The novelist credits his wife Kavya (Nivedhitha), who he says was instrumental in inspiring the story. From here the story moves into a flashback mode, Kavya is an orphan and a budding violinist and Narain is a regular in the audience during all her concerts. Soon Narain confesses his feelings to her and they get married.
Their life goes on smoothly until one day Kavya comes across a transcript of Narain’s yet-to-be-published novel where he has described their intimate moments in detail, when she confronts him he tells her that he did this only to give the book a realistic touch. Meanwhile Kavya gets pregnant but unfortunately she meets with an accident and has to abort her child. Cut to the present, where Narain takes his wife to the US thinking that a change of scene might do her some good. But little does Kavya realise that her husband has an ulterior motive.
In the US, the couple meet Bujji (Abhinay), who has a knack of charming women. He feels that something is wrong with Kavya and confronts her, she breaks down and reveals that her husband is psychotic and that she was tortured a lot in India just because he needed to progress with his writing. What follows is a sequence of events that lead to an unexpecting, arresting climax.
The director has extracted the best performances from newcomers Shaan and Nivedhitha, the former who has a complex role with shades of grey has certainly lived upto expectations. Even though the first half of the movie is slow, the second half is full of twists and turns. Abhishek has deftly handled a complex script, but how far the audience will accept such themes remains to be seen. All said and done it is a daring attempt by Abhishek and producer Rajan.