Kandaen is a 2010 Indian Tamilromantic comedy film written and directed by Mugil, and produced by TCS. It stars Shanthnoo Bhagyaraj and Rashmi Gautam in lead along with Santhanam, Ashish Vidyarthi, and Vijayakumar in pivotal roles. The film, which was launched in May 2010, created curiosity after noted film-maker Gautham Menon's newly launched audio label selected the film's soundtrack to be its first release. It was released on 20 May 2011 to average reviews from critics and was performed averagely at the box office, but Shanthnu's and Santhanam's comedy was appreciated. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Balapam Patti Bhama Odilo in 2016.
Plot
Vasanth is an engineer who comes from Chennai. He falls in love with Narmada at first sight. He acts blind, and she eventually falls for him. They date, and Narmadha's father, a police commissioner, gets to know abets. He manages to tell Narmada the truth, and she comes to know about Vasanth's blindness. They reconcile, and as the movie comes to an end, Vasanth has a successful operation, and they return to India happily to get married.
The satellite rights of the film were secured by STAR Vijay. The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews. Rashmi Gautam was praised for her acting and glam quotient. Behindwoods quoted that "she was the film's glam quotient and showed streaks of brilliance." Indiaglitz also praised her that "she is a welcome addition to the list of Tamil heroines and that she emoted well and interestingly after a long gap one got to see a heroine hogging major share in a movie." Rohit Ramachandran of nowrunning.com rated it 2.5/5 stating that "Kandaen is a romantic comedy without a heartbeat but enough pulse to crack you up."
Soundtrack
Film score and soundtrack of Kanden are composed by noted evangelical composer, Vijay Ebenezer, who made his debut into film music with the project. The audio rights of Kanden, were bought by Gautham Menon after Singer Krish and Vijay had given a copy to Menon following the recommendation of actress Sangeetha and producer Sebastian. Menon impressed, wanted to release the audio under his newly launched label, Photon Kathaas Music. The music garnered positive reviews especially the song "Enge En Idhayam" became popular. Behindwoods quoted that the "It was a pretty decent effort composed by a newcomer. " Singer Krish made his debut as a lyricist with this film writing two songs. The launch of Menon's banner and the film's album was held on 9 December 2010 at a ceremony featuring several chief guests including Suriya, K. Bhagyaraj and prominent composers Yuvan Shankar Raja and Harris Jayaraj. The following a day, a promotional event was held at Odyssey in Chennai, with live renditions from the album. The event featured performances from Chinmayi, Suchitra and Krish whilst Gautham Menon, Shanthnoo Bhagyaraj and Karthik Kumar were also in attendance.
