Highway Kadhali – Review – Latest Tamil Love Short Film 2017 | Kamal Prakash | Currently Globally Best Short Films

Pilot films are the visiting card that assistant directors of yesteryear never had the luxury of. Balaji Mohan\’s Kadhalil Sothappuvathu Eppadi and S. U. Arun Kumar\’s Pannaiyarum Padminiyum are two such fine examples of how pilot movie concept was best used by aspiring filmmakers.

Kamal Prakash\’s Highway Kadhali is one such pilot film in form of a short film and Currently Globally has reviewed the short film here.

What happens?

A forever single guy is stranded on a road when a car race attempt fails and we come to know his escapades with love and his repeated failures. He finds a marble and places it in his pocket. He gets a lift by cab and on the way, the cab driver picks two spirits (Aavi in Tamil/Ghosts) and we get to know that the cabs are operated by Yeman (The God of Death) and their purpose is to bring the souls and deliver to Yeman.

During the journey, Pradeep (played by Pradeep Ranganathan of Whatsapp Talkies fame – Whatsapp Kadhali/ What to do in first night? ) falls in love with Sneha (Amritha of Padaiveeran fame) and as the mismatched love between a human and spirit blossoms, a mishap happens and the souls are abducted by another similar cab driver for ratings.

Will Pradeep meet his first successful love again and will he rescue her back? , forms the remaining story.

What works out?

A lot of things work out in the movie and the first thing would be Pradeep Ranganathan. With his unique acting style as a helpless youngster blindly in love, he strikes the chord with most of the youngsters and especially the proud single guys of Tamilnadu ( the short film itself has a tagline For single boys) and the budding actor has given his best in interval block. Also, his voice modulation is one of the key points and his intonations make you relate to his character and his viewpoint.

The cinematography by Vinod Rajendran is the next appealing factor about the movie and shots are exquisite and we can see a lot of hard work by the team. Also, most of the movie happens in the night, and the night shots are pleasing to the eye unlike most short films of today.

Music by M Fazil and Sound design by Sync Cinema take the mood the director want to set to elevated levels and the 25-minute film has 1 song (Imaiyai) a theme (Yeman) and both have a professional quality in spite of the familiarity of the tune.

Kudos to the director, Kamal Prakash for small creative ideas like soul-snatching selfie, Pradeep\’s dialogue about face-cut and hair to Maddy, the driver (Manikandan Vaidyanathan) and also, \”En Aavi\” (My spirit) dialogue usage between Pradeep and Sneha will sure be alluring to the viewers.

What doesn\’t work out?

The base plot has a few plot holes like the possibility of seeing spirits and also, about the back-stories of the cab drivers involved in this soul cargo. It would have been better if a little more back story was provided for who they are and how they are involved in this peculiar job.

Most curious plothole in the story was, how Maddy picked Sneha\’s soul when actually Bose was the reason behind Maddy\’s death should have been explained further.

Our Verdict:

Short films are independent art forms and quality short films show how much the cast and crew involved respect the art form. Highway Kadhali is one of the few short films that deserve to be applauded, in spite of few plot hole issues, for its quality making, great casting and also for belonging to the rare fantasy genre in Tamil cinema.

Our Rating:

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