Review of Kavin’s “Kiss”

Kavin’s long delayed fantasy romance, Kiss, finally released worldwide on Friday, 19 September 2025. Playing the female lead opposite Kavin is Preethi Asrani of Ayothi-fame. The supporting cast includes Devayani, Kausalya, VTV Ganesh, RJ Vijay, Rao Ramesh, Kalyan, Sakthi Raj, Matthew Varghese and a special guest appearance by Prabhu. The initial narration is done by Vijay Sethupathy.

Kiss marks the debut directorial of actor and dance choreographer Sathish Krishnan. Among his many film credits, Sathish won a national award for Best Dance Choreographer for the songs Thaai Kelavi and Mehgam Karukatha in the Dhanush-Nithya Menen starrer, Thiruchitrambalam.

Nelson (Kavin) is highly sceptical about love and actively dissuades people from falling in love. A book bearing his name lands in his possession and he develops the ability to foretell the fate of couples once they kiss. When he falls in love with Sarah Williams (Preethi Asrani), he changes his attitude to love, but a glimpse into his future leaves him with a major dilemma.

Writer-director Sathish Krishnan has some brilliant and innovative ideas in his screenplay, but he is inconsistent in the way he applies these ideas. The result is a screenplay that numerous stops and starts and varying pace. A lot of diversions in the film’s first half do more than slow the pace, they also create a distraction from the focus of the main story. The second half is better, but still flawed.

Kavin’s acting is superb, skilfully and accurately portraying the many deep emotions of the character. A lot of his emoting involves scenes without speech and these accentuate his ability to convey emotions convincingly. Preethi Asrani shows great maturation as an actress. The confrontation scene in the supermarket, by itself, deserves multiple awards.

Devayani delivers a solid performance, while fellow 90s actress Kausalya as Lily is also impressive.

VTV Ganesh will either annoy or delight you, depending on your taste of comedy. On the other hand, RJ Vijay as Nelson’s friend and Sakthi Raj as his younger brother are both delightful.

Kalyan as Sarah’s father plays a role that is deftly handled. Rao Ramesh is the best of the others.

Jen Martin’s songs are quite good and his background score adequate.

Cinematography by Harish Kannan as numerous high points, especially in the framing and lighting.

Despite its flawed screenplay, Kiss provides good entertainment and enough food for thought about love and relationships.

Kiss scores 7 points out of 10.