SOODHU KAVVUM MOVIE REVIEW

Soodhu Kavvum marks the entry of yet another young director, Nalan Kumarasamy, following Pizza’s Karthik Subbaraj, whose claim to fame was a TV show designed for likewise aspirants.  Nalan Kumarasamy shows his gratitude in the opening slide by thanking the judges of the show - Prathap Pothen and Madhan.

The aptly titled Soodhu Kavvum tells the story of petty criminals who are engulfed by their own occupation volunteering to ride the high tide, knowing well of its repercussions. Scheming the perfect crime and executing it is only half the story as Soodhu Kavvum offers some radical and sometimes outrageous twists and turns.

The actions and decisions of a motley crew led by Das, played by Vijay Sethupathy, with amateur miscreants enacted by Simhaa, Ashok Selvan and RJ Ramesh, is what drives Soodhu Kavvum forward, but at an unhurried pace. While Vijay might be the leader of the pack the screen space is fairly shared with other members in the gang but Vijay’s paunch and graying beard does earn him a sense of seniority. The actor does have the guts to play a forty year old, so early in his career. Sanchita Shetty’s character is a surprise as Vijay Sethupathy’s doll faced confidant and ‘dream girl’. Nice touch, sharing a different chemistry with the hero. The other cast members include familiar character artists such as Radha Ravi and MS Bhaskar in integral roles and a common face in the short film circuit, Karunakaran, appears in a role tailor-made for him.

Soodhu Kavvum’s scoring area is definitely its characterizations as Nalan Kumarasamy offers each of the central characters a back story that’s unique and more importantly contributing to the character’s present circumstance. Essentially the only righteous character in the film is that of M.S. Bhaskar who plays a spotless politician. Without being all too preachy or self conscious Nalan Kumarasamy paints a picture to portray that there’s hardly any room for such individuals in the modern day. Neither is he tempted to be ironic. Having said that, the writer director seems to have been consumed by his own thoughts, and probably even overwhelmed with his own project, that sees him go on a creative overdrive. Sure there is always room for cinematic freedom, and it is filled to the brim in Soodhu Kavvum in a bid to offer something different.

Santhosh Narayan peppers the background score with processed beats and hard rock rhythms that work well for the numerous dramatic slo-mo scenes. He also employs his own version of a popular score from Dr. Strangelove. The songs are well shot and its position in the film is justifiable. The camera work and editing is slick and seems to have drawn inspiration from post-modern filmmakers.

The film introduces us to several quirky characters and ambitious sketches, all delivered with a light heartedness. The director is rather successful in making the audience root for the anti-hero group and their reckless ways but the viewing is lacking of a certain stranglehold because of many long drawn-out scenes and the leisure manner in which the story unfolds to an end.