Kathukutti Movie Review
Review Overview
Performances
Screenplay and Direction
Technical Aspects and BGM
Adequately entertaining!
Debutant director Saravanan has come up with an earnest, decent film in Kathukutty, which takes a partly judicious, partly in-your-face look at the plight of farmers, with the right amount of comedy suffused into the screenplay to leave you in splits at regular intervals.
Cast: Narain, Soori, Srushti Dange, MS Bhasker & others
Cinematography: Santosh Sriram
Music: Aruldev
Written & Directed by: Era Saravanan
PRO: Nikkil Murugan
Produced by: Own Productions
Release Date: 01-10-2015
Run Time: 02:19:00
Debutant director Saravanan has come up with a somewhat earnest, decent film in Kathukutty, which takes a partly judicious, partly in-your-face look at the plight of farmers, with the right amount of comedy suffused into the screenplay to leave you in splits at regular intervals.
Arivazhagan, played by Naren, is a cheerfully irresponsbile bachelor whose main objective in life is to stay inebriated all the time with his good-for-nothing best buddy Ginger, played by Soori. Their regular day in the village doesn’t end without kicking up a fuss with hapless countrymen. Santhanam (Arivazhagan’s father) is a well respected man in the village for his long tenure in politics. He has been waiting for a minister seat to contest for more than two decades but he never gives up. To everyone’s surprise, the party head makes a decision to stand a vibrant youngster in their constituency instead of a veteran and they provide the opportunity to the carefree Arivazhagan. Will he win the election and uphold the respect his father has gained from villagers over the years? This forms the rest of the story.
Though Saravanan spares no effort to stir a debate on the ground realities of farmers’ living conditions, demerits of globalization and the coal bed methane exploration, a burning issue in Tamil Nadu even today, the screenplay demands more depth and pragmatism to engage the viewers honestly. Saravanan’s treatment to this particular angle of the film is absolutely blandish, but his effort to counterbalance the same with funny yet thoughtful, compassionate dialogues is what makes Kathukutty a passable watch.
Brownie points to Soori and Naren for bringing out the comical elements alive on screen with competent performances. And, Soori, for once, looks natural on screen, puts his histronics to best use and gets to mouth some really witty dialogues that bring the roof down more often than not. Saravanan really runs out of ideas to showcase Naren’s transformation from a wastrel to a righteous youngster who is sympathetic towards farm workers and sketches the particular sequences quaintly.
Technically, the film cries out for better results, especially in cinematography and editing. The performances of supporting cast, especially Jayaraj (Bharathiraja’s brother), are all right.
Saravanan deserves mention for churning out a passably entertaining film which revolves around an extremely vulnerable subject. Four out of five films in this category have always ended up delivering sermons unabashedly. Had he handled the story-telling aspect better, Kathukutty would have had more chances to win the hearts of audiences.