Kandukondain Kandukondain: The Ajith-Tabu-Aishwarya Rai classic that still feels like summer poetry

The cast: Tabu, Aishwarya Rai, Ajith, Mammootty and Abbas. It doesn’t get better than that.

Based on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Kandukondain Kandukondain follows the emotional and personal trials of two sisters: the practical, taciturn Sowmya (Tabu) and the romantic, dreamy Meenakshi (Rai). When their family home is lost, the sisters, along with their mother — are forced to rebuild their lives from scratch. Sowmya finds herself drawn to the brooding Ajith's Manohar, while Meenakshi falls in love with the charming Abbas's Srikanth. There are trials, tribulations, tears, fears of being ‘unlucky,’ brutal heartbreak, a near-death experience — and finally, a happy ending.

Kandukondain Kandukondain is something that stays with you, long after the film is over. Perhaps, because it belongs to such a different time that you aren’t quite sure if we will ever get a cast like that. Or maybe it’s the lyrical quality of the film: the music, from the yearning ache of Enna Solla Pogirai to the whimsical delight of Konjum Minnakale, with Rai dancing across fields, capturing the heady thrill of youth and infinite possibility.

Watching this film is when you see an almost unrecognizable Ajith as compared today: As an irritated, aspiring filmmaker, and also a person deeply in love with Soumya. Their chemistry is quiet, rare and yet somehow builds up to a crescendo at the last, when the emotions finally break forth like a dam.  Rai and Abbas are a joy to watch too, but it’s her sarcastic banter with Mammootty that wins the day.

Maybe it’s sad that this kind of filmmaking now lives mostly in memory — or maybe that’s what makes it more special. Either way, the film is worth revisiting. Even if it takes just a couple of hours of your time.