Kaappaan

In Kaappaan there are moments where you will appreciate the kind of detailing KV Anand gives in the screenplay. But the problematic part of the movie is also the detailing. It goes to such levels at times making me wonder whether that was detailing or simply spoon-feeding. Kaappaan is a typical KV Anand movie that tries to look like an engaging entertainer with the pace of events but eventually ends up as a tiring watch with no surprises.

Kathir is a military intelligence officer who gets appointed as the SPG in charge of the Prime Minister of India after the PM got impressed by his performance. But the threat for the PM wasn’t over. The journey of Kathir as the security officer of the PM goes through a rough patch and he goes through a lot of ups and downs. Why the prime minister was getting targeted frequently and how Kathir finds out the truth behind it is what Kaappaan showing us.

Movies are a suspension of disbelief, but KV Anand pushes that aspect to a level that you are seeing the PM of a country dancing with his friend’s girlfriend in a Party. Blasts, terror attacks, bio war etc are happening in this movie like traffic accidents. On the political side, it is a movie that calls for war and brims with nationalism. The immediate-justice thought process is the driving factor here, but sadly this movie doesn’t even have the subtlety of a Uri to accomplish that. After an easily predictable and unsurprising first half, KV Anand tries to make things more interesting by adding twists and turns in to the film. Let me put it this way, the reaction KV Anand wants from the audience is either a Wow or Ahaa!. But what he has managed to get is an “okay”; simply because, we have seen these things many times in the past.

Suriya has all the dashing looks in different costumes and Kaappaan feels like a movie where the action was far more demanding than acting. Suriya has the body language to be a focused SPG officer. Mohanlal is a great choice to play a calm and level headed Prime Minister Chandrakanth Varma. There is a grace in his portrayal that makes him that likable leader figure. Sayyesha’s Anjali is an absolutely weird character. Imagine one of those “cho chweet” characters played by Hansika in some (most) of the films in which she acted, and make that character PM’s Secretary, that how badly placed is that character. Because every other character in the movie was so much in the usual zone, I sort of liked the eccentric character of Abhishek played by Arya. Samuthirakkani plays a character role whose fate is predictable from the moment he is introduced. Boman Irani plays an industrialist and the movie simply didn’t use an actor like him to the full potential.

KV Anand’s scripting pattern on a summarized level is interesting. Even in Mission Impossible films, we have seen this kind of ambitious sequences with futuristic technologies. But where Mr. Anand fails here is in giving coherency to all those things. Everything has this hasty feel and the way he is trying to connect the hot selling patriotism and the protection of farmers through one hero is really a tough one to pull off and the movie fails to capture the emotional essence of those issues. The whole Suriya- Sayyesha sequence in the hotel room was absolutely disgusting simply because of the forced way they included those bits. The insect attack, peace negotiations, Prime Minister’s appeal to invest in India etc have this broad stroke feel to it. Harris Jayaraj’s music is just about okay for the movie. On the visual level, MS Prabhu and Anthony have managed to create a sense of urgency.

The movie is placed in Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Kashmir and everyone is speaking in Tamil; what great time to release the movie. Apart from this unintentional comedy prop given the current political scenario, there is nothing particularly exciting about this KV Anand action thriller.

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