Kaththi (Tamil) - Movie Review

Next to the massive Diwali -2012 success of "Thuppakki", A.R.Murugadass and Vijay have joined together once again for “Kaththi” – a commercial entertainer with a social message.

Very often, we hear the news of hundreds of farmer suicides/deaths from all over the India – where Agriculture is the backbone of the country. Every party throws up big promises for farmers in all their election manifestos, but how many of them getting materialized? Or do we really tracking/worrying about them?. Here in Kaththi, Murugadoss pinpoints our ignorance on the issue and highlighting the problems that the farmers' face due the (corrupted) globalization.

Plot/Story:
Vijay plays dual role. As Jeevanatham – an educated, social activist who endeavors the betterment of his village which is facing a severe water problem. Another character Kathiresan (alias Kaththi), as a crook having a track record of escaping from the jail for 18 times .. Both these characters cross their path, and as usual exchange of characters – Kaththi in the place of jeeva , striving hard for the villagers, while the Jeeva is in jail caught as Kaththi. How they live on the foots of the other and catch-up the cause is the story.

Cast:
The real hero of the story is Jeeva, who’s characterized more like Vijayakanth of Ramana – very subtle and who’s going to an extend of risking his life for the betterment of his village. This Jeeva character is completely “Non-Vijay” in every aspect :P , way different from the typical Vijay what we’ve been seeing in his mass masala movies!. But the director A.R.M satisfies Vijay fans with the other character Kaththi., with songs, dance, fight and a lot more masalas.

There could be arguments that someone else could have done the characters better than Vijay.. May be true too:) . But this movie needs the attraction of Vijay to reach out a large mass – which could be possible only by people like Thalaivar(Rajni), Kamal, Vijay or Ajith. Kudos to Vijay for accepting this script and very importantly for not screwing it-up :P

Samantha: sadly a typical commercial cinema heroine , just appearing in the songs, and in a few romantic scenes. I almost forgot that she’s on the movie :(

Director:
I see A.R.Murugadass as one of the very rare responsible cinematographers of Tamil cinema. He’s cleverly touched many burning issues like farmer suicides, water scarcity, corruption, MNCs who don’t both about their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), difficulties of senior citizens, TRP hungry media, …and etc. He conveys all his anger so sharply in the scene where Jeeva speaks in the press meet – that’s the highlight of the movie!!

But I feel, the screenplay is not so gripping and fast paced like Thuppakki, could have done better, especially the lousy 1st half. The placement of songs slows down the pace and makes the audience less engaged. But somehow AR.M saves the movie with a decent 2nd half. Definitely worth watching for the solid 2nd half!

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