Mynaa, one of 2010's best films, pushed Prabhu Solomon into the limelight, and won many accolades for him. And thus, it is natural that his next outing, gets all hyped up. Vikram Prabhu, a third-generation actor, coming from the house of the legendary Sivaji Ganesan, and Prabhu, makes his debut with this movie. Hype builds up. But does this film deliver?
Set deep within densely forested hills, the village of Aadhikaadu, steeped in anarchy, cultural discipline, and archaic notions of honor, is terrorized by a rogue elephant nicknamed 'Komban', and they set out for a 'kumki' to help solve their troubles. Bomman, a mahout, lives a nomadic life along with his uncle Kothalli, his assistant Undiyal, and Manickam, a gentle, untrained elephant that works as decoration for festivities. Unforeseen circumstances puts Team Bomman in place of the kumki of Aadhikaadu, where Bomman falls head-over-heels in love with the village headman's daughter Alli. Does Bomman succeed in winning her heart, and is Aadhikaadu rid of its animal horror? That is what Kumki, also starring newcomer Lakshmi Menon, National Award winner Thambi Ramiah, Aswin Raja (from Boss (a) Baskaran), is all about. If there existed a heaven, I believe Chinappa Devar (The man behind Thevar Films) would be quite happy about the films that have released this year.
Pluses. The locations are simply exotic, and Aadhikaadu has brought to screen in an excellent manner. The movie transfers us to a village of minimal technology, a village set back 200 years in its thought and behaviour. Cinematography, by M.Sukumar, is splendid indeed, and some shots are breath-taking. Vikram Prabhu, and Lakshmi Menon deliver commendable performances, but they still have a long way to go. The film rides on the shoulders of Thambi Ramiah, who delivers a performance of class, and of rib-tickling nature, and he is well supported by Aswin Raja. D.Imman's music is pleasant, and so is his background score, but the album, and the film itself on the whole, remind you too much of Mynaa.
Downers. The screenplay runs amok for a long while till the movie finds some grip to move forth, thus the movie moves as a pointless drag, till the peak in the second half. The movie makes use of a lot of CG - the effort is appreciable, and worth mention. But to audiences who've watched their Hollywood showcases, or atleast Tamil dubs of Avatar, and Life of Pi, it's, well.. not up to the mark.
Prabhu Solomon, is now making his film style a trademark. Unshaven heroes, shabby clothes, forests, waterfalls, love trances and morbid closes. We saw that once, we seem to be seeing it again. Kumki, on several levels draws similiarity towards Mynaa, and while the morbid close worked well for the latter, Kumki's climax leaves audiences in a state of perplex confusion, while shedding light on a dark sense of justice. Nevertheless, team Kumki needs special appreciation, just for the tremendous amount of work put forth in shooting in such locations and conditions.
Kumki, might not live up to its hype. But, it is a movie, worth a watch.
Aditya Baskaran
A very good review.. The director failed to create a rapport between the Kothali character and Bomman Character which hits him badly in the climax. But with a new hero, he moved the script with Thambi Ramayya. A clever move :-)
ReplyDeleteVery true. The director confuses the audience, with the character of Kothalli, portraying him in various shades throughout the film.
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