Once upon a time, there lived a… oh, enough said!
First of all, it’s a great pleasure to see Kamal on screen. Happy about his unkept promise of not planning to act again. It’d have been a bummer if he had not made films any further. Quite curiously, for a Kamal film, the movie generated a lot of hype, first among me because of lot of coincidence like my name, birthday, friends name etc. but even amongst others, there were people wanting to catch the movie desperately, after the first review was out. Having said all that, I didn’t except such a movie from Kamal, it was a shocker, as cliched as it my sound, it was another truly different movie.
After settling to the FDFS ambience, personalized Kasi theatre engagement, papers flying, bouncers shouting, whistles, videos etc. it was finally time for the film to start. For a full-blown action film, a song like that at the start was needless. Don’t know why it was kept. Yea it was fun to see Kamal enjoying himself but was it apt for the film is the question and the song wasn’t done with full conviction. Like my friend pointed out when the song ended midway, “ipo lam pattu podrathukae bayapadranga” (nowadays, people are afraid to keep songs in the film). And he was right, I felt how Lokesh was in two minds when he wanted to both have a song as well as not have it. From that point to the interval, it was a blast, with only one bad scene where the prostitute tells what Kamal does physically to her. It was emotionally cringe.
The first scene of the film where Kamal dies would have been a shocker for many. Even though we all know its not the end of him, the way the director delays the character entry and keeps us in hooks was something no director had done before. When was a hero, let alone a big budget mass action hero, had appeared only during the interval. That’s what makes Kamal different from others and he must be appreciated for that. For a comeback film he appears only in the interval block. With that, he answers the the complaint about how he never gives chance to other actors, in style. The interval scene seriously is a blast. I was telling how it could have been one of the best first parts of the movie if it had been released separately. It would have had a ‘Kill Bill’ kind of impact with the Tamil audience.
The problem starts with second half. I’d rather not say problem but the film fails to elevate the protagonist like it does for other actors. After a brilliant Fahad Fasil show in the first half with menacing Vijay Sethupathi. The scenes with Narain, Tina and everyone of his aid works big time but for Kamal with a couple of punch dialogues and absolutely needless “Nalavara, Ketavara” dialogue, it was only compulsive applause he was getting. May be just like ‘Jigarthanda’, people loved the first half so much so that they couldn’t hate the second half. They were applauding for the Vikram who was in search in the first half rather than the Kamal on screen. I was in fact shocked that the film became such a huge hit. I thought I’d be writing about how it’s a great film which was again misunderstood by audience but I’m doing the opposite. I was proved wrong by the audience who were able to accept the fact that in spite of Kamal being in the film, it was a Lokesh film in which Kamal has acted.
Action sequences could have been definitely better. His mannerisms of shaking his shoulder were done one touch too many. Probably the only action scene that worked was the Tina transformation. Even though I guessed, it was lovely. Also the names of all the agents were displayed at great junctures. Probably the film shouldn’t have been shown with the title at first, rather should have been shown only when the Agent Vikram’s name gets displayed during the climax.
I know it’s wrong to expect an emotional performance in an action film, but I felt it would have been nice if some more time had been given for him with his grandson, their chemistry was lovely (Remember the dad son scene in ‘Uttama Villain’, can it get any better than that). Especially the crying scene which Lokesh repeatedly points out gave us a glimpse of Don Corleone scene with his grandkids in the field. Maybe it was intentional. Whether it was intentional or not, another inspiration definitely seemed to have come with Nolan’s batman series. The interval close up shot of Kamal, the lights off scene from marriage hall, the restaurant scene where the kid looks for his grandfather etc. But the important thing is everyone of this scene worked. In fact, everything did except elevating Kamal as a mass actor.
The climax could have bene brilliant and explosive as Lokesh intended if only had ‘Kaithi’ not come earlier. As soon as we saw guns and drugs in the first scene, we knew what was going to be the climax and cinematically there was nothing new in the climax blow up. It was underwhelming to be honest. With ‘Kaithi’, we got a terrific feel, the silence after the gunshot there was lovely, here it was just a repeat. Even Kamal bringing the barrel to ground, Fahad Fasil rescuing the kid was all cliched.
People fondly call this a Loki Universe, it is nice to see him get all the love. He too calls it his world. It is good to see him doing a connect with his other movies and be proud about it but hope it doesn’t become a template and he yields to a compulsion to connect every movie of his after this.
constantscribbles 