Kaaka Muttai Movie Review
Review Overview
Performances
Screenplay & Direction
Technical Aspects & BGM
An utterly charming, must watch gem!
Kaaka Muttai is an utterly charming and gloriously ingenuous first feature from director Manikandan. The film is a splendid example of how you can make a globally appealing film with an intensely local theme. Gems like Kaaka Muttai come once in a blue moon. Instead of mourning later, do yourself a favor and watch this lovely slice-of-life drama in theaters.
Cast: Ramesh, Vignesh, Iyshwarya Rajesh, Yogi Babu, Ramesh Thilak, Desappan, STR (Guest Appearance) and others
Dialogues: Anand Annamalai and Anand Kumaresan
Music: GV Prakash
Editing: Kishore TE
PRO: Riaz Ahmed
Cinematography, Written & Directed by: Manikandan M
Produced by: Dhanush and Vetrimaaran
Distribution: Fox Star Studios
Release Date: 05-06-2015
Run Time: 01:49:00
Kaaka Muttai is an utterly charming and gloriously ingenuous first feature from director Manikandan. The film is a splendid example of how you can make a globally appealing film with an intensely local theme.
Though Kaaka Muttai is a flawless genre-film for kids, it also packs an array of burning topics for grown-ups like globalization, economic inequality, urban poverty, social stratification, media sensationalism into the narrative without being preachy. Isn’t it a colossal achievement considering two out of three films in Tamil cinema come out and deliver sanctimonious talks in the name of ‘message’? I truly consider it as the greatest triumph of Manikandan’s debut effort.
Having screened at popular film festivals – including Toronto International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival, Rome Film Festival – across the globe, the film grabbed the attention of movie goers when it won two national awards for Best Children’s Film and Best Child Artist categories. With the film scheduled to hit screens Friday, it was screened in advance for the press in the hope that it would garner good word-of-mouth. And, the decision of Fox Star Studios, who is presenting the film worldwide, has superbly paid off with critics raving about the film.
Kaaka Muttai narrates the story of two impoverished kids – from the unstructured slum in Chennai – who long to taste their first pizza in life at a newly launched restaurant called Pizza Spot in their vicinity. The two kids – Chinna Kaaka Muttai and Periya Kaaka Muttai – played by Vignesh and Ramesh deliver heart-warming performances with their wide-eyed gazes and infectious smiles. With their father put behind bars, the only source of income for the family comes from their mother, played by Iyshwarya in her career-best role, who makes ends meet by laborious means. She is also helped by her kids, who contribute their part by collecting remnants of coal from goods trains to fork out money from a nearby waste disposal shop and mother-in-law, who lends support in household chores.
In a poignant scene, the grandmother rues that crow’s eggs are the only nutritional luxury for kids since chicken eggs have become too expensive. When the ground where the kids drink crow’s eggs from a tree is sold to a real estate developer to make way for a pizza outlet, they confront the harsh reality of globalization. This is the first scene where Manikandan subtly makes his statement about the stark effects globalization brings to a section of people.
When Simbu arrives as chief guest to open the restaurant and gorges on a slice of pizza, the delectable sight of it makes mouths of kids water. And, they set out on an adventurous journey to save money by doing peculiar jobs to taste their first pizza. It’s an experience you should relish surely on the big screen with your entire family. If I were to pick a flaw, it would be the way the ending is executed – a little filmy.
Manikandan has carefully documented in everyday detail about how a single incident relating to the lower strata of society can be exhaustively exploited by politicians, police officers and the media for commercial profits. Manikandan’s solid comment on the crude social realism is beautifully accomplished by the guileless humor in the screenplay. It’s incredible to think that a debut film-maker has made an exemplary social commentary with a wafer-thin story line that is highly vulnerable to fall into the melodramatic zone. I doff my hat to you, Mani!
Manikandan, who is also the cinematographer of the film, captures the life of dwellers in majestic details – be it the alleys of the slum or the tall buildings that touch the sky in the adjacent side of the city. Late Editor Kishore has aesthetically put together the three montage songs in the film without slackening the pace of narrative. GV Prakash, too, has done a nifty job with the background score. And, A SPECIAL MENTION to dialogue writers Anand Annamalai and Anand Kumaresan for penning piercing-yet-harmless lines that brim with good-hearted innocence. Three cheers to Vetrimaaran and Dhanush for producing this film and Fox Star Studios for presenting it.
Gems like Kaaka Muttai come once in a blue moon. Instead of mourning later, do yourself a favor and watch this lovely slice-of-life drama in theaters.