Kaduva movie review – Caution: underpants on display

Language: Malayalam The ancient Chinese may have built the Great Wall of China, but could they have kept their mundus on through a full-fledged fight scene in a Malayalam film? The 8th Wonder of the World that has not received the global attention it deserves is the mundu, the white/cream sarong-like unstitched garment from southern India. As a child born and brought up in the north, I would spend my school summer holidays in Kerala wondering how the mundus worn by Malayali men do not fall off since they don’t wear petticoats under them. When I finally asked, I was told that some men use belts to secure the mundu around the waist, but some – hold your breath! – don’t. It took about 20,000 workers to complete the Taj Mahal. It takes one Malayali hero to keep his mundu intact while walloping dozens of opponents in multiple confrontations through the 2 hours and 35 minutes of Kaduva (Tiger). Okay, don’t get mad at me. You are right – I’m being flippant. But to be fair (to me), how is an earnest critique possible for a film in which the sound of a Big Cat growling in the background is the leading man’s signature, he repeatedly poses – _Pulimurugan_ -style – like a feline crouched on the ground poised to pounce on his prey, his swagger stretches from his walk to his mannered speech, and he soars through the air while bashing up his foes? Kaduva is directed by Shaji Kailas – blockbuster machine of the 1990s and early 2000s – and written by Jinu V. Abraham. It is a typical men-centric commercial Malayalam film fixated on establishing a male protagonist’s superhuman strength and prowess.

In the background, overshadowed by fisticuffs and speeches, is this story. In a church in Kerala, two powerful parishioners clash. One is a rich businessman, Kaduvakunnel Kuriyaachan a.k.a. Kaduva played by Prithviraj Sukumaran . The other is a politically well-connected, high-ranking policeman, Joseph Chandy, played by an unexceptional Vivek Oberoi whose career Malayalam cinema seems intent on resurrecting since he more or less fizzled out of Bollywood. Kuriyaachan’s habits are a subject of local lore: he drives a Mercedes, smokes cigars, wears only mundus and white kurtas. He is also feared for his track record of violently disciplining wrongdoers. He struggles through much of the storyline, but we know he will ultimately outwit his enemies because, well, he’s the hero and this is that kind of predictable film. The plot matters little here. Dominating the narrative instead are long – oh soooo long! – stretches of Kuriyaachan beating up groups of men, often in slow motion; Kuriyaachan walking in slow motion; Kuriyaachan delivering grandiose dialogues that seem to require him to speak in slow motion; low-angle shots of Kuriyaachan perched on a vehicle’s bonnet and crossing his legs in slow motion; close-ups of Kuriyaachan’s eyes going through the natural blinking process in what feels like slow motion; close-ups of Kuriyaachan’s hand with a ring topped by a tiger sculpture, as he clenches his fist in (guess what?) slow motion. Just to be clear, films featuring impossible action and an incidental story can be fun. But not when the stunt choreography is being recycled from a zillion other films and the same limited stock plays in a loop throughout, as it does in Kaduva.

The media has reported that Kaduva is based on a true story of a businessman in Kerala who went to court accusing the film of potentially defaming him. A life that inspires a film must surely have been exciting, but Kaduva is only occasionally so. For the most part it is clichéd, too reliant on Prithviraj’s screen presence, has no time for women and is filled with talented actors such as Samyuktha Menon who have next to nothing to do. The film could also serve as a source for a Museum of Underpants as villain after mundu-clad villain is sent flying in the air or crashing to the ground in positions that put his knickers on display. That said, Kaduva is far from being the worst we have seen from this genre of cinema in various Indian languages or Malayalam in particular. Kuriyaachan does not, for instance, equate sexual harassment with courtship or treat women like property . Kaduva is loud but not deafening, and its all-pervasive fights are, surprisingly, not gruesome and blood-spattered . Given this, Kaduva might have earned the description “harmless” if it weren’t for a passage in which the hero, supposedly a devout Christian, states that he does not believe in the New Testament of the Bible and prefers the “eye for an eye” dictum in the Old Testament. Christianity stems from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, which are chronicled in the New Testament where he is quoted, among other things, as saying: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek.” This passage in the Bible greatly inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence). At a time when mob violence is being openly encouraged by Indian politicians, such a line from a popular star playing a hero, not an anti-hero, cannot be taken lightly. If it weren’t for this, Kaduva could have been considered innocuous, mass-targeted fare. Its many passages of boredom notwithstanding, there are a couple of places at which I laughed out loud at the filmmaker’s audacity in portraying such improbabilities with conviction and at Prithviraj’s ability to pull off such exaggerated dialogues and gestures with a straight face. It is also hard not to be swept away on the tide of Jakes Bejoy’s infectiously energetic Pala Palli Thiruppalli to which Kuriyaachan and a huge crowd dance with gay abandon at a massive church festival shot spectacularly by Abinandhan Ramanujam. Some bits of Kaduva are even unintentionally amusing or insightful. Such as the discussion among senior clergy about giving a delinquent priest a punishment posting in Uttar Pradesh or elsewhere in north India. Take that all ye in the north who view transfers to the North-east as the ultimate government reprimand for an errant, dishonest bureaucrat. Ha! There is a lot of physical movement in Kaduva – fists and legs swing across the screen, vehicles speed and overturn, bodies spin in mid-air. Shaji Kailas’ storytelling though remains frozen in time, back in the 1990s when he first shot into the limelight, as unmoving as the mundu tucked around Kuriyaachan’s waist. Rating: 1.75 (out of 5 stars)

This review was first published when Kaduva was released in theatres in July 2022. The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial Read all the  _Latest News_ _,_  _Trending News_ _,_  _Cricket News_ _,_  _Bollywood News_ _,_  _India News_  and  _Entertainment News_  here. Follow us on  Facebook_,_  Twitter and  Instagram_._