Kaali movie review: Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's slow-paced film is an out and out Vijay Antony show

Vijay Antony is the most successful composer-turned-hero in Kollywood right now, due to his choice of films. There's always something different within the commercial format in his choice of scripts. His latest film Kaali, directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, has a new concept at its core. But the way it unfolds is slow and the film looks a bit dated.

Dr Bharath (Vijay Antony) is a New York based cardiothoracic surgeon, who we are told has nearly 90 % success rate in the operations he has conducted. Bharat runs his own hospital along with his dad. He has loving parents and a good life, but is troubled by a recurring nightmare. One day he finds out that he was adopted as a child from an orphanage in Chennai, and discovers the nightmares he gets has some connection with his past. So he decides to go to India in search of his roots.

Vijay Antony in Kaali.

While at the Chennai orphanage, Dr Bharath comes to know that his mother’s name is Parvathy and she has some connection with a village called Kanavukkarai. He goes to the village in search of the identity of his father. There he meets with Gopi (Yogi Babu) who turns into his friend and helps him in his search for his father.

They initially suspect the village chieftain (Madhusoodanan), and get him drunk to get a DNA test done, but it turns out to be negative. The next prospective “father” in the suspect list is a robber (Nasser), which again turns out to be a red herring. Dr Bharath has a love interest in the village (Anjali). Soon our hero starts suspecting the local parish church priest John ( Jayaprakash), which leads to a further twist.

All the “father suspects” have a back story to tell about their failed romance. The director has used a unique device in the flashback episodes by using Vijay Antony to feature in the “father's” younger days. The concept is the protagonist meets these characters who he suspects of being his father. So, the film becomes an out and out Vijay Antony show as he appears in four different characters in the film.

There are four heroines in the film – Dr Bharat’s lover Anjali hardly has any scope to perform. Shilpa Manjunath as the robber’s girl friend makes a sensational debut and is someone to watch out for. Sunaina as the priest’s love interest is impressive. Vela Ramamurthy and RK Suresh act out their villain roles with style. Yogi Babu’s comedy scenes in the first half are enjoyable.

The songs composed by Vijay Antony are hummable and the length of the film (128 minutes) makes it tight, though it could have been faster in the first half. The last 15 minutes of the film is the make or break point.