I Have Found It

Directed by Rajiv Menon

Release Year: 2000
Running time: 150
Country: India
Language: Tamil w/English subt.
Subjects: Asian Studies
$18.71 - Classroom Rights
MSRP: $24.95
$349.00 - With PPR
$499.00 - With DSL
$499.00 - With DSL and PPR
MSRP: $599.00
Directed by: Rajiv Menon
Crew: A.R. Rahman

I Have Found It (Kandukondain Kandukondain) transplants Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility into an irresistibly musical, infectiously funny and sweetly romantic widescreen wonderworld that could only be found in a Bollywood film. An eye-popping riot of brilliant color, show-stopping musical numbers, spectacular global locations and exuberant performances, I Have Found It represents a gigantic leap forward for Southern Indian "Kollywood" movies - the Tamil-speaking cousin of Bollywood Hindi language film.

Rich, young, gorgeous and pampered, sisters Sowmya (Tabu) and Meenakshi (Aishwarya Rai, Bride and Predjudice) want for nothing except the true love their hearts crave. While Sowmya grudgingly places family responsibilities ahead of romance, Meenakshi yearns for a white knight who will come to her "just like a storm." Three different coincidences bring the girls three very different suitors and a tempest of romantic complications. Manohar (Ajith), an aspiring filmmaker, falls for Sowmya but will wed her only after directing his first film. Commando Major Bala (Mammootty) woos Meenakshi despite physical and emotional war wounds and competition from Srikanth (Abbas), a charismatic poetry-quoting businessman. But with their patriarch's health ebbing, the romantic storm Meenakshi and Sowmya wished for may soon be eclipsed by the harsh realities of modern South Asian life.

In his sophomore directing effort, former cinematographer Rajiv Menon garnishes I Have Found It's feast of visual brilliance with knowing genre nods and witty social satire. Featuring songs by superstar composer A.R. Rahman (DIL SE), I Have Found It is a delightful mixture of the poetic traditions, exotic rhythms and dazzling showmanship that characterize the best of Bollywood cinema.

Reviews

"Puts a South Indian spin on Sense and Sensibility with a handful of extravagant showstopping numbers" - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"A surprisingly powerful romantic drama, stunningly photographed..." - Saul Austerlitz, The New York Press

"Rajiv Menon's 2000 Have Found It (Kandukondain Kandukondain) is a delightful modern-day version of Sense and Sensibility whose simultaneous freedom and fidelity to Austen puts the illustrated-classic slavishness of Ang Lee's version to shame. (Important: Look for the just-released Kino Video DVD of this film. The previous DVD version had subtitles that whizzed by, a problem that, after the first few minutes, the Kino version corrects.) - Salon.com