Kaththi features one of the most hyped and reputed combinations in the film industry, A.R.Murugadoss and Vijay. Murugadoss has provided Vijay with a contemporary issue which has lived up to its expectations. The story has an age-old formulaic pattern adapted from MGR period, where look-alikes swap places to solve problems. Murugadoss is one of the finest and versatile directors in the Indian cinema right now. He’s one of the very few directors who voices out the technical and practical inabilities in the society to create awareness among the audience.
The fans would automatically expect too much if a successful pair joins hands once again, and in the case of Vijay –Murugugadoss it has gone a step ahead. When Murugadoss mentioned that Kaththi will be better than Thuppakki, many started to think about what would be in store this time. And the most indispensable question was if they kept up to the hype? But, the pair have delivered what they promised and scaled a new peak.
Kaththi could’ve been a film with loftier ambitions but it still began with a bang. A prison. An escape. A freeze-frame. Then, a flashback, which contains one of those procedural depictions Murugadoss is so fond of. The sequence had an impertinent finish, guaranteed to whip Vijay’s fans into hysteria. Murugadoss has always been an extravagant storyteller and narrator. But even by his standards, the early portions of Kaththi are remarkably flabby and dull. Instead of surprising us by cutting to scenes directly, he keeps laying them out for us, he keeps explaining them.
Kaththi is all about, how Jeevanandham, a social activist fight against an abominable MNC company to restore farming. The other Vijay, ‘Kathiresan’, a small-time thief, but an ingenious youngster, who swaps places with Jeevanandham because of destiny, and leads the war with the corporate, headed by Neil Nithin Mukesh, who makes every conceivable attempt to steal the fertile lands from villagers.
Vijay as Jeevanandham & Kathiresan has delivered a lifetime performance and showed a brilliant diversity in both the roles, albeit not even a great makeover between both the roles. Samantha plays the heroine. Precisely, she plays an emoticon. Happy face. Sad face. That pretty much covers her contribution to the proceedings. She has complimented well with Vijay, but her staging shockingly flat and seemingly there is some time wasted in one of the most uninspired romantic tracks. Sathish’s one-liners do not make us to ROFL, but it was enough to evoke much-needed laugh in this social drama. Neil Nithin Mukesh deserves a special mention for delivering the dialogues beautifully, and he fits the bill perfectly as a chairman of an MNC.
It will be an understatement to say that, Murugadoss has mastered the skills of commercial film making. He has raised the bar once again, and mixed the colourful elements in the right proportion of a social drama, and penned an excellent screenplay. Though there are some logical loopholes; those have been brilliantly plastered by cinematic liberties. It will take another Murugadoss’ish effort to shadow ‘Kaththi’.
A few logical errors in the first few minutes, and the pace of the movie for the first 45 minutes. If, Kathiresan can simply decode anything, why does he keep getting caught for 18 times when he tried to escape from the jail? Well, it is okay to play to the gallery and cross the barricades of logics for a commercial entertainer. But the question is, how long will we have to say okay to these age-old strategies?
But the facts be spoken, Murugadoss has made use of Vijay’s potential and delivered a powerful social drama with a few twists in both the halves. The editing is taut, and the decision not to include ‘Paalam’ song clogged few more kilometres to the racy screenplay. The stunts are believable, and the director has succeeded in delivering what he wanted to with the help of a tremendous cast and crew.
Vijay and Murugadoss have redefined the term ‘commercial’ once again and delivered a perfect treat for Tamil audience.
