KALKI MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

Praveen Prabharam's Kalki opens on a promisig note. A do-gooder politician/comrade explains the exodus of Tamil migrants taking place in the badlands of Nanchenkota. The film makes no mistake  by introducing the antagonist at the first place. The film also introduces a timid policeman who kills himself after realising his helplessness when innocents are killed by the town's goons, headed by Amarnath (played by Shivjith), a ruthless politician. Despite having a good setup, the film results in a middling payoff.

Kalki follows the story of a new S.I (played by Tovino Thomas), who gets stationed in Nanchenkota in order to fill the position left by the former sub-inspector's suicide. The new S.I's strict and unorthodox ways to curb crime leaves the villains in deep trouble, as they gear up for an upcoming election. The film's beginning is preceded by one mass moment after another, which adds less to the story, but gives the film's hero an opportunity to power-walk in slow motion. The film turns into a disjointed compilation of mass moments that unfold in ninety-six frames per second.

The film under-utilizes its characters. There is a character of a rookie cop who specializes in engineering, but the ability is used nowhere in the film (except for a minor gag that happens to be the film's most surprising moment). S.I rarely faces any challenges from the villain, as a result, we feel less disconnected with the character since we can easily predict his next move. The overbearing familiarity of Kalki becomes a key issue with the film. For instance, first half ends with the killing of Amar's menacing henchman Umar (played by Harish Uthaman), but the scene fails to provide the necessary closure when we know that this is the inevitable end.

The first half is overstretched with low-impact mass moments that act like fillers, and reckless usage of slo-mo sequences. We step into a second half where the film attempts to catch ahold of its initial premise. We see the hero rise up to the occasion and act as a messiah of the weak. There are some intriguing character-revealing moments thrown in too. But the film would've benefitted more had the writing introduced those subplots during the first half itself. We see a lot of character deaths in the second half, but those moments create lesser impact since the hero overshadows their presence right from the start.

The film plays to the gallery when it comes to performances. Barring Tovino Thomas' fine presence, the acting is as generic as the film's plot. Certain portions of Kalki bear an uncanny resemblance to many recent action-masala flicks, but no amount of moments can salvage the protagonist's heroism when the villain is presented in a clownish manner, who can only defeat the hero in a staring competition. The film's drawback is its flabby writing, which throws one heroic moment after another without making it more organic to the plot. Apart from a few hum-worthy songs, Kalki is an umnimaginative action film with very few engaging moments.