Kaala Review

Cast: Rajini, Nana Patekar, Eashwari Rao, Huma Qureshi, Samuthirakani

Music: Santhosh Narayanan

Direction: Pa. Ranjith

Pa. Ranjith’s films always talk about humanity and equality directly or in a subtle manner. Kaala talks about land acquisition from the people of Dharavi. Ranjith has his own share of screen to tell his ideologies, but the way he intertwined the ideologies with Rajini’s style and his screen presence has to be appreciated. He finally found the screenplay for his type of film and Rajini’s type of film, which he couldn’t in their previous film ‘Kabali’.

Ranjith’s dialogues stand out really well. I really loved the dialogues when one of his sons decides to leave the house and the dialogues in later scene where his other sons also want to leave Dharavi. The whole Dharavi set is built beautifully and gives a realistic feel to us. The place is of Periyar statue, Ambedkar photos and Bhuddha temple. You even see a book named ‘Rama Kaaviyam’ (meaning Ram poetry) on Rajini’ table.

There analogy to Ramayana in the climax and when Hari dada (Nana Patekar), the other name of Vishnu, tells his granddaughter that Kaala( Rajini) is a Raavan. We also have Kaala’s son named Lenin, a police named Sivaji Rao Gaekwad and a guy named Beemji (Pa. Ranith’s twitter name) who leads us to Rajini in the film. Ranjith has carefully named the characters and drafted a great characterization for everyone.

Among all the characters I loved Selvi (Eashwari Rao), Kaala’s wife. She is just amazing and the romance between the two is a treat to watch. Her first scene is a single shot starting from kitchen to outside the house. The next amazing character is Hari dada, whom we see only in the banners till the intermission. The antagonist against a superstar like Rajini has to be perfect and Nana Patekar is one. 

Finally, Rajini is just a treat to watch and Ranjith manages to bring the actor Rajini again after Kabali. I enjoyed the scenes with Kaala’s family than the action sequences.

The background music is thumping enough to make audience go frenzy in the slow motion shots. Though ‘Kannama’ song sequence felt like a Kabali hangover, it was nice to watch. The background score or songs don’t mention Raavan until Hari dada calls him Raavan. There is a mirroring scene. First Hari dada comes to Kaala’s house refuses to drink water and the inmates think he is a good person. Later Kaala comes to Hari dada’s house, drinks water from dada’s granddaughter and she thinks Kaala is a good guy.

These good scenes overshadow some boring scenes. The second half is neither racy nor slow as it concentrates much on protest, which became tiring. But the climax was brilliant and something which is rare to see in Rajni’s film. The open ending gives two different perspectives, which satisfied me completely.

Verdict: A good balance between Rajini type of film and Ranjith type of film.