Jada movie review: Kathir's latest film is a confused mess that's neither a sports drama nor a horror thriller

One of the fastest rising stars with potential in Tamil cinema is Kathir. His choices in scripts have been perfect so far, such as the brilliant Pariyerum Perumal, and a lot was riding on his new film as a solo hero, Jada. There were pre-release reports that Kathir had taken a lot of time and energy to prepare for the football-based sports film. Alas, debutant director Kumaran’s film misses the goalpost by a mile.

A still from Jada. Twitter

It starts off promisingly with a voiceover, which tells us how the game evolved over the years in the North Madras area. Later in a typical Tamil youth film style, the hero character Jada (Kathir) and his friends like Yogi Babu are introduced, while they are getting ready for a big football tournament. His coach Elango wants him to focus more on the game, since he has the potential to be selected for the national Santosh Trophy team. But Jada prefers to play in Sevens football, a more aggressive and violent form of the game. The driving force is to avenge the death of his childhood mentor Sethu (Kishore), who died in a Sevens tournament.

After years, the local politicians of the area he stays in are planning a Sevens tournament, but police refuse to sanction a permit. So the tournament is shifted out to a nearby village, and Jada and his team plan to participate and win the cup despite objections from the coach. From the interval block, the sports film changes genre and turns into a horror film, as the director tries to marry different genres, and virtually end up with egg on his face. The audiences may feel cheated and question how a football-based film suddenly can turn into a horror revenge drama.

A still from Jada. Twitter

The film has been made without a proper script, as there are logical goof-ups, and the ending is compromised. Like in so many other ‘youth’ films, there are plenty of scenes extolling the virtues of friendship via drinking scenes. A love angle is thrown in just for the sake of having a heroine and a song. Why is it mandatory to have a heroine figure in every Tamil film, even if there's little to do for her? It would be interesting to note that one of the biggest hits of the year, Kaithi, did not have any love interest for the hero. The heroine (Roshini Prakash) here has virtually one scene and disappears in the second half, other than a phone call post interval.

For the first time, Kathir’s choice of a script has gone so wrong, though he tries best to salvage it in the second half. There is not even one single scene for him to show his acting calibre as the character lacks depth. Yogi Babu’s comedy falls flat and other actors just do not fit the bill. Technically, there is nothing much to commend other than some well shot football scenes in the beginning. Jada is a confused mess that lacks a proper script and narration and is neither a sports drama nor a horror thriller and falls between two stools.

Rating: **