Dinesh jain
Contributor
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2014
- Messages
- 13,547
- Reaction score
- 13,957
Film: "Kaththi"; Cast: Vijay, Samantha Ruth
Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Satish; Director:
A.R. Murugadoss;
If you've seen A.R. Murugadoss's "Ramana",
you are likely to agree that his "Kaththi" is just
a stylish version of the former made on a
lavish budget, bigger star, bigger issue, prettier
heroine (with no scope for performance) and a
lot of melodrama (plight of farmers).
If Vijayakanth was the messiah of "Ramana",
he's replaced by Vijay in this film. It's evident
in the scene where Jeeva (Vijay) tells his
villagers not to give up farming even if he has
to lose his life, after being bruised up by
corrupt cops. He's taken back inside for
another round of beating and we see hundreds
of farmers weep. Doesn't it remind us of
crucifixion?
"Kaththi" is a commercial film and naturally
audiences except some heroism, action and
romance in it. But here Murugadoss has
portrayed his hero as a messiah, a man of the
masses willing to even sacrifice his life. What
would he do to make it a masala film? He
smartly uses the dual hero concept by
introducing us to a crook Kathiresan (Vijay),
doing time in a Kolkata prison. As a rule in any
film with two heroes, Kathiresan finds himself
in the shoes of Jeeva.
Kathiresan as Jeeva is too cool to care about
a bunch of senior citizens. But eventually when
he comes to learn about Jeeva, he's ashamed
and guilty. He plans on running away, but a
scene requires him to show his heroic side. A
pre-interval fight sequence where Kathiresan
happily announces that he will henceforth be
called Jeeva.
Post interval, we see Kathiresan gradually
turning into another messiah of sorts. But his
transformation from Kathiresan to Jeeva is not
handled as convincingly as it ought to be.
Murugadoss uses this section of the film to
indict multinational corporations (MNC) who
steal the livelihood of farmers and media for
not willing to give villagers a voice.
Towards the end, Murugadoss goes all guns
blazing to bore us with startling statistics
about the takeover of MNCs. He talks about
MNCs manufacturing strawberry-flavoured
condoms when most children in villages don't
even get to eat the fruit. Who even eats
strawberries on a daily basis? Farmers would
any day prefer some rice over fruits. It makes
sense if you talk about other fruits such as
apple being used in beauty products, but
strawberry is a bad example. All this is
extremely preachy and unrealistic to believe or
even commend.
"Kaththi" does feature a few good moments. A
fight sequence involving a bunch of coins is
extremely well choreographed. The coins were
donated for Jeeva's cause by a group of
farmers now employed in low-life jobs. When
he uses these coins to beat the henchmen
sent by MNC stooges, there's a strong
emotional reverberation to the scene. But it's
also a flawed scene because the fight takes
place in the dark, but for some reason
audiences can very clearly see Vijay.
When this action sequence is repeated in the
climax, it loses its charm because we
appreciate something creative only the first
time. It becomes monotonous when it's done
the second time. But it's these masala
moments that leave Vijay's fans into a frenzy.
Vijay shines in both the roles. As Jeeva, he
does touch your heart with an honest
performance. But Murugadoss's others
characters are extremely weak. The film
features the most uninspiring romantic track
that makes us feel extremely sorry for
Samantha.
The film would've still worked even without a
heroine and a love portion. Neil Nitin Mukesh
looked terrific in the initial moments, but once
again suffers due to poorly developed
character.
"Kaththi", which translates to sword in English,
is largely blunt at the important edges. It reeks
of overdose of melodrama and the need to
preach.
Movie Review: Kaththi
Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Satish; Director:
A.R. Murugadoss;
If you've seen A.R. Murugadoss's "Ramana",
you are likely to agree that his "Kaththi" is just
a stylish version of the former made on a
lavish budget, bigger star, bigger issue, prettier
heroine (with no scope for performance) and a
lot of melodrama (plight of farmers).
If Vijayakanth was the messiah of "Ramana",
he's replaced by Vijay in this film. It's evident
in the scene where Jeeva (Vijay) tells his
villagers not to give up farming even if he has
to lose his life, after being bruised up by
corrupt cops. He's taken back inside for
another round of beating and we see hundreds
of farmers weep. Doesn't it remind us of
crucifixion?
"Kaththi" is a commercial film and naturally
audiences except some heroism, action and
romance in it. But here Murugadoss has
portrayed his hero as a messiah, a man of the
masses willing to even sacrifice his life. What
would he do to make it a masala film? He
smartly uses the dual hero concept by
introducing us to a crook Kathiresan (Vijay),
doing time in a Kolkata prison. As a rule in any
film with two heroes, Kathiresan finds himself
in the shoes of Jeeva.
Kathiresan as Jeeva is too cool to care about
a bunch of senior citizens. But eventually when
he comes to learn about Jeeva, he's ashamed
and guilty. He plans on running away, but a
scene requires him to show his heroic side. A
pre-interval fight sequence where Kathiresan
happily announces that he will henceforth be
called Jeeva.
Post interval, we see Kathiresan gradually
turning into another messiah of sorts. But his
transformation from Kathiresan to Jeeva is not
handled as convincingly as it ought to be.
Murugadoss uses this section of the film to
indict multinational corporations (MNC) who
steal the livelihood of farmers and media for
not willing to give villagers a voice.
Towards the end, Murugadoss goes all guns
blazing to bore us with startling statistics
about the takeover of MNCs. He talks about
MNCs manufacturing strawberry-flavoured
condoms when most children in villages don't
even get to eat the fruit. Who even eats
strawberries on a daily basis? Farmers would
any day prefer some rice over fruits. It makes
sense if you talk about other fruits such as
apple being used in beauty products, but
strawberry is a bad example. All this is
extremely preachy and unrealistic to believe or
even commend.
"Kaththi" does feature a few good moments. A
fight sequence involving a bunch of coins is
extremely well choreographed. The coins were
donated for Jeeva's cause by a group of
farmers now employed in low-life jobs. When
he uses these coins to beat the henchmen
sent by MNC stooges, there's a strong
emotional reverberation to the scene. But it's
also a flawed scene because the fight takes
place in the dark, but for some reason
audiences can very clearly see Vijay.
When this action sequence is repeated in the
climax, it loses its charm because we
appreciate something creative only the first
time. It becomes monotonous when it's done
the second time. But it's these masala
moments that leave Vijay's fans into a frenzy.
Vijay shines in both the roles. As Jeeva, he
does touch your heart with an honest
performance. But Murugadoss's others
characters are extremely weak. The film
features the most uninspiring romantic track
that makes us feel extremely sorry for
Samantha.
The film would've still worked even without a
heroine and a love portion. Neil Nitin Mukesh
looked terrific in the initial moments, but once
again suffers due to poorly developed
character.
"Kaththi", which translates to sword in English,
is largely blunt at the important edges. It reeks
of overdose of melodrama and the need to
preach.
Movie Review: Kaththi
