Kari

Kari is solid black humor that teases the current society in every bit of its running time. The naturally rendered sequences are soaked with elements of certain laughable and dangerous mindsets of the human beings. The focus of the film is primarily on the caste system that prevails even in the current so called progressive social setup, but they have expressed the various other complexes people show as an outcome of such discrimination.

It is narrated as the journey of two people from the south of Kerala to Malappuram to meet the parents of a man who is currently seeking for a permanent job visa in the Middle East. The events that happen during that journey and how those incidents depict the caste influenced mind set of keralites is what Kari from Shanavas Naranipuzha discussing.

It is not that dramatizing commercial film which tries to give emphasis to its agenda through speech like dialogues. What Shanavas has done is capturing the people in its real best. The camera isn’t in the steady cam mode and the still frames and the long uncut shots depict the reality very neatly. Without any pseudo intellectualization of the theme, the director invites us to see how we look like in actual life. The educated guy played by Gopu Kesav and the so called lower class people; every one of them shows their inner complex and their wish to be peripherally acceptable and desirable in many areas of the film. Ayyappan is discriminated by many margins including cast and color. Gopu Kesav has this upper class attitude and the parents of Dineshan show their desire to be in the better group.

What attracts the most is the raw feel in the treatment. Except for the police station episode where I felt the characters where a little on the caricature side, there is this emphasis on making the movie look like a real sneak peak of life style and conversations. The black humor is there in large portions transcending from caste/color discriminations to environment issues. There was this lodge scene where you can clearly hear Vellappalli Nadeshan talking about the caste inequality in a blatant way. In that way you can see the idea they wanted to show even in the most unnoticed background activity of the movie. Cinematography is tidy and the background score kicks in gently at needed areas.

On screen it is definitely K T Satheeshan who excels in performing the role of Ayyappan. The outburst of Ayyappan was so genuine. Gopu Kesav was okay in his role while Ram Mohan smartly underplayed his character (A genuine prospect for commercial movies).

On the whole Kari is one of those movies that have atypical real humor in the backdrop of contemporary thoughts. If you are willing to taste something different from the usual takes on sensitive subjects, do watch this one.