Kaapa shows Prithiviraj Sukumaran’s star power & histrionic muscles

In Shaji Kailas’ Kaapa the very engaging Prithviraj Sukumaran comes up with yet another character who is dark mysterious unpredictable and yet somewhere deep down there is a core of humanism in the outlaw’s personality that only Prithviraj can bring out. Prithviraj is Madhu a man who lords over much of Thiruvananthapuram while the law looks the other way. Or rather, looks in the same direction as the outlawed hero. This is not the first time Prithviraj gets into the dark zone to own it. No two gangster parts in recent times look similar when played by Prithviraj. Here in _Kaapa_ he has to play a much younger version of himself for a small and extremely violent portion of the plot. Prithviraj slays it. This is a more implosive performance than his other recent film _Kaduva_ with the same director Shahji Kailas, where there was too much swagger in the performance.

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In Kaapa, not only is Prithviraj restrained, letting his eyes do all the screaming, he also has some very motivating actors around him. Salient among them is Biju Pappan who plays Prithivraj’s righthand man Shashankan. This actor speaks through his silences. But this film is not about Shashankan. It is about the beautiful empathetic bond that forms between Madhu’s wife Prameela ( Aparna Balamurali) and a man Anand(Asif Ali) who is connected with Prameela in an indefinable way. I wish this aspect of the unwieldy plot had been dealt with in a more focused manner. Rather than let the characters acquire more personality, Kaapa allows the plot to scatter all over the place. So shapeless is the narrative that some of it remains in the realm of the incomprehensible. What, for example, is the function of the newspaper editor Latheef (Dileesh Pothan) who is clearly in the business of journalism for the wrong reasons? Latheef has a major role in the film. But till the end, I didn’t know why his character is allowed so much leeway in the screenplay, or for that matter the protagonists of the film who seem to fear the journalist’s clout although, in reality, Latheef is a toothless crocodile. Having said this. I must confess that the last half-hour of the film, after one of the major characters dies, is so brilliant and moving that I wondered what took the writer (G R Indugopan) so long to gather his wits. If only the rest of the film was not so scattered and rudderless. Parts of the film are so unmoored they feel like episodes of a series. This lapse of the reason is no treason. It doesn’t diminish the impact of the endgame. The performances especially Sukumaran and Asif Ali, the latter in an underwritten part, help to give the film its heft. The two female protagonists Anna Ben and Aparna Balamurali shine in underwritten roles.I suspect there is a sequel on the way. And both Ben and Balamurali would have a lot more to do. Incidentally, there is an ancestral ring in the film which keeps coming off, along with the fingers wearing them. “Those who wear it don’t live long,” a character warns. Ah, it’s like the genius of Malayalam cinema. If you try cutting it out of its roots, it dies. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram.