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Sakkarakatti Review: ALL COTTON, NO CANDY |
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| Behindwoods
Movie Review Board |
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Starring:
Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Ishitha, Vedhika
Direction: Kalaprabhu
Music: A.R.Rahman
Production: Thanu |
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Like the sugar cube Sakkarakatti refers to, the movie dissolves
quickly, turning to nothing even before interval. Sakkarakatti
wants to be cho shweet, but its cho boring. A thin, outdated
script about a love triangle set in a college, the story does
not carry the resonance newer Tamil films like Subramaniapuram
and Saroja have had on an audience geared up for more. Debutant
hero Shanthanu Bhagyaraj’s likeable presence and Rahman’s
songs alone keep the movie from melting into total fluff.
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Shanthanu
is the charming, carefree son of rich parents living
in a fancy, gated colony. The friends who hang out with
him are childhood pals from the same colony. They have
just finished school and have begun college. There Shanthanu
falls in love with Ishita Sharma, his glamorous looking
classmate, who in turn falls in love with him. Enter
Vedhika, his cousin, who has had a crush on him since
they were kids. A series of misunderstandings follow,
separating Shanthanu and Ishita.
That’s not just the heart of the plot, but the
plot itself. One misunderstanding is resolved only for
another to spring up. And to bridge these moments of
togetherness and being apart, Kalaprabhu, making his
debut as director, throws in songs. It doesn’t
help. At no point does the movie draw you in and make
you care for the characters or keep you involved. And
by the time the climax takes place, the audience was
booing. The only thing in favor of Kalaprabhu –
a filmmaker without any previous hands-on experience-
is that Sakkarakatti doesn’t feel amateurish.
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The
debuting heroine, Ishita Sharma, is unimpressive – but
in such an underwritten role, who wouldn’t be? The second
heroine, Vedhika, dances well and at least has some screen
presence. One of the hero’s friends- the one with the
French beard- shows promise as a comedian. Shanthanu has to
play a thinly sketched hero, but he puts energy and charm
into everything he does. He is more than promising- he’s
star material, and he’ll survive this wreck.
Taxi, Taxi and Chellamma, Chelakamma sizzle with energetic
choreography. But the picturization for the other songs don’t
measure up; very few directors seem to know what to do with
Rahman’s deeply rich rhythms. Something Sakkarakatti
tries to do differently with its songs is the bold use of
scorching graphics as background. It would have counted for
something if the movie had amounted to something. What the
graphics do instead is to make the movie even more fluffy,
clueless and gimmicky.
Often there is no clue in the visuals where the movie is taking
place. It is supposed to be Chennai, but it could be Singapore
or Australia. Shanthanu and his folks live in a suburb that
belongs more to Long Island, New York, than any Indian city.
The college he studies in is a swankier version of Loyola.
When the story isn’t happening here, it takes place
on wide, tree-lined roads and lush parks. The director wants
a young, effervescent audience to enjoy the fluffy cotton
candy he’s made for them, but it melts into nothing
even before you’ve licked it.
Verdict – Not
cho shweet
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