Kaappaan , in one line an action pack with too many agendas attached to a single film. Infact
this would be the 100th film of the year with Farmer and corporate fight :) . The mastermind
Anand has written it along with Patukottai Prabhakaran , however Kaappaan begins with a
weakly-conceived and executed ‘hero introduction’ scene, as a countermeasure to invert the
sequence in Skyfall. Suriya is air-dropped onto a moving train and we see him planting a
series of bombs on it. Before the bomb explodes, he pulls off a Bond-esque stunt and plunges
into a river.
The farmers’ issue is the hottest sub-genre in Tamil cinema, and has become an easy gateway
for filmmakers to inculcate random in-your-face messages. Thanks to the NGK hangover,
Suriya plays organic farmer Kathiravan here. This means, there will be a fourth-wall-breaking
scene, challenging the audience to imagine a life without farmers. There are a couple in
Kaappaan. Kathiravan also works with an intelligence agency and at one point, is suspected
of being a double agent. There is a hint that he is an assassin hired by militant groups
operating in Pakistan, to target the Prime Minister of India, Chandrakanth Varma (Mohanlal,
in a one-dimensional character).
The first half fares relatively better as we get to see the various players involved and their
motives (some evident, some hidden) – Anjali (Sayyeshaa), the press secretary whose father
was a victim during the opening assassination attempt; Abhishek (Arya), the seemingly
playful son of the PM; Mahadev (Boman Irani), the multi-millionaire who sort-of runs the
government; Kathir’s SPG teammates (Samuthirakani, Prem, Kiran), one of whom could be a
mole; and the mysterious assassin (Chirag Jani), who seems to have eyes everywhere.
But things go downhill quickly after the interesting interval block, and the film begins to
become predictable, especially when it starts touching on themes like the plight of the farmers
and corporate greed that almost every third movie seems to talk these days. And a couple of
elements seem straight out of Mahesh Babu’s recent films, Bharat Ane Nenu (Abhishek’s
press conference) and Maharishi (the farming bits). There is a certain pulpy quality to KV
Anand’s films and even those aspects, like the angle involving bio warfare conducted through
locusts, feel underwhelming. By the time the film reaches its ineffective climax, we begin to
wish for Vijayakant and Arjun to come and rescue us.
Mohanlal (is a miscast) does a neat job but his patriotic lines hardly create any impact.
Sayyeshaa looks cute and gorgeous. Boman Irani plays a caricature villain role whereas the
secondary villain Chirag Jani's role is actually better. Arya looks mature to play the playful
25-year-old son of the Prime Minister while Samuthirakani is wasted in a badly written role.
Usually Anand's films stand out in the technical department but here everything is strictly
average including music, cinematography, writing and editing. We also get a vibe of watching
an old Vijayakanth film with an extra dose of organic farming and bio war angle thrown in.
On the whole, it is easily the weakest film of KV Anand.
We would consider it as a shadow film of KV Anand.
Rating 2.5 /5
Positives : Action Sequences
Negatives : Storyline and script (Zero freshness).
No comments
Post a Comment