Dada is a film written by Ganesh K Babu and produced by Ambeth Kumar under the banner Olympia Movies. It stars Kavin and Aparna Das in the lead roles while Bhagyaraj, VTV Ganesh, Pradeep Antony, Harish Kumar, and others play supporting roles. The music is composed by Jen Martin, and the camera is handled by Ezhil Arasu K.
Manikandan (Kavin) is a careless young college student with no foresight about the future. He is in love with Sindhu (Aparna Das), and one day she reveals that she's pregnant. He wants to abort the child but Sindhu wants to keep it. They end up going with her choice, but Mani's irresponsible nature results in Sindhu leaving their baby with Manikandan, and running away from him. He is forced to raise the child - Adithya, all alone. The film deals with the struggles he has to go through in raising Adithya, and how his life changes for the better.
With Dada, one can see how well Kavin has matured as an actor. Not just with his performances but also with his choice of scripts. In a way, one can call this the answer to what would happen if Preethi from Arjun Reddy handed over the baby to Arjun Reddy, asking him to raise it all alone. The only difference is that Manikandan is not as abusive as Arjun.
It is indeed a responsible choice to not make Sindhu look like the villain and give proper justification for her decisions. Despite not having a villain as such, the film is breezy and engaging to an extent. The initial portions of the first half are what negatively affect the film. There are plenty of songs, and they end up becoming speed breakers to an already slow screenplay.
There are plenty of supporting characters who make their entry at various stages of the film and each one makes their mark in their own way. In particular, Harish Kumar is delightful as Manikandan's friend Amit. In the second half, Manikandan's teammates in the office also shoulder the film really well and offer proper support to Kavin through their performances. Aparna Das also comes up with a measured performance as Sindhu.
The film has first-timers as its technical crew, but the quality of their work doesn't show that. Jen Martin's background score is top-notch, and the songs are pleasant to hear. It is just the placement that doesn't sit well. Ezhil Arasu's cinematography does justice to Ganesh K Babu's story and elevates the film in a lot of places. He also works in tandem with editor Kathiresh Alagesan.
Overall, Dada is a sweet feel-good romantic comedy with engagement issues in the first half. The film has its heart in the right place and that powers the film throughout. Technically too the film has a certain quality and that is maintained till the last frame. The humour works out wonderfully in many places and that also helps the film a lot. A harmless watch for the weekend.