Pandiraj seems to have struck gold again in less than a month. After "Pasanga 2", the director's latest film "Kathakali" has garnered highly positive reviews from the audience and there are all signs of the movie making it big at the box office. 

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"Kathakali" is an edge-of-the-seat action thriller with only two songs in the film. The Tamil movie is two hours long but has necessary commercial elements like action, romance and comedy to entertain the viewers. However, the audience cannot expect over-the-top dialogues or exaggerated heroism in the film and Pandiraj has made his first action film in his style. In short, the film narrates the story how an incident can totally change a person's life. The Tamil film, which has Catherine Tresa in the female lead, is based on a real-life incident.

It has Nassar, Karunas, Soori, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, Sreejith Ravi, Pawan and others in the cast. Hiphop Tamizha has composed the music, Balasubramaniem has handled the camera and Pradeep E Raghav is the editor of "Kathakali", which is the first movie of Vishal after he won the Nadigar Sangam elections last year.

Story:
Vishal returns from a foreign country to Cuddalore for a marriage. On the other end, there is a powerful baddie Thamba (Madhusudhan Rao), who has a lot of enemies including the hero has some issues to be settled. At this stage, Thamba gets killed and people easily suspect Vishal's hand in the murder. Now, he has to handle the police as well as the goons from the victim's side. What happens next is the best part of the story.

Average Ratings Given by Audience: 3

Reviews:
The audience have praised the engaging story backed with neat performance of Vishal and Catherine Tresa. The thrilling elements and other commercial elements are the other highlights of the Taml flick . Below, find what audience are saying about the flick:

Haricharan Pudipeddi posted: Running time a big, big plus for #Kathakali. Nice to see filmmakers slowly adapting to this change of telling a story briskly in abt 2 hrs. It will be this year's #Pandiyanadu for #Vishal. A thriller that dazzles with twists and turns exactly when needed. Very well done.
#Kathakali is nicely placed at interval. Initial moments of comedy and romance works well. Transforms into a thriller at interval block
Forgot to mention. Title #Kathakali is so apt for the film. Rarely do Tamil film titles have any link with the story.

Ramesh wrote: #Kathakali [3.5/5]: @hiphoptamizha 's BGM enhances the action scenes.. Dir @pandiraj3 has a back to back winner after #Pasanga2
#Kathakali [3.5/5]: #CatherineTresa does her part well.. #Karunas, #MimeGopi and rest of the supporting cast r very natural..
#Kathakali [3.5/5]: @VishalKOfficial plays his part in a subtle way.. Romance, Comedy and brings the aggression where it's required..
#Kathakali [3.5/5] : A racy thriller.. A neat and different screen play.. Climax elevates the movie to a higher level.. Keeps u glued..
#Kathakali 1st Half : Starts on a rom-com mode.. Switches to Thriller mode closer to interval.. Racy.. Base is set for an exciting 2nd half

Sreedhar Pillai ‏wrote: #Kathakali 3.25/5. Best part no unwanted songs, just 4 commercial reasons 2 songs b4 interval, Downside - Romance & comedy not convincing
Liked the villains especially Madhusoodanan & Srijith Ravi. Catherine just Ok, nothing much 2 do post interval.
@VishalKOfficial is a revelation does well in those intense moments. Liked the terrific "selfie" action scene.
Slick edge of the seat thriller from @pandiraj3 . Moves fast with terrific twists & turns, especially last 10 minutes.

Sathish wrote: #‎Kathakali‬ First half - Romantic & Comedy scenes have come out quite well. Interval block& pre- interval scenes raises the expectations for the second half. Expecting a completely engaging thriller.

Priyanka tweeted: Vishal is back to his best. Films such as #Kathakali perfectly suits his image.
#Kathakali is a well-made entertainer... Pandiraj has a winner in hand again after #Pasanga2
Very good story..suspense and thrills are highlights of #Kathakali @VishalKOfficial @pandiraj3

Karthik Keramalu wrote: #Kathakali: Has interesting layers of a light mystery thriller and if a film needs action; action needs Vishal; they complete each other. Has interesting layers of a light mystery thriller and if a film needs action; action needs Vishal; they complete each other.

Shanmugavel tweeted: #Kathakali Done.Interesting screenplay @pandiraj3 Climax twist superbb.Good casting.Overall nice movie.Worth a watch @vishal_warriors
#Kathakali - Fight sequence sema.especially Selfie fight .#AnalArasu @pandiraj3 @RIAZtheboss Good thriller movie.worth a watch.

Prashanth wrote: Director @pandiraj3 once again shows kollywood how to make a cost effective yet non compromising movie. Respect brother! #Kathakali
#Kathakali interval - mersal editing and screenpla!!. Not bored even for a minute. Sure shot for @VishalKOfficial !!

Kannan posted: #Kathakali - Nice action thriller with many twists & turns till the very end revolving around a murder mystery. Go watch it! (7/10)
Some boring romantic scenes & few songs aside, solid set up 4 thriller so far. Screenplay keeps one guessing!!

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