The pre-release buzz around Mani Ratnam's O Kadhal Kanmani was that it is a sequel to Alaipayuthey and while the maker has denied this, nonetheless, the film does feel like a spiritual cousin to the earlier film. The circumstances that led to the films couldn't have been any similar. At the time he made Alaipayuthey, Mani Ratnam had delivered a couple of films (Iruvar, Dil Se) that did not work at the box office and questions were raised on whether this avowedly mainstream filmmaker was not connecting with his audience. This time, after the failed experiments of Raavanan and Kadal, these quest...