Film: Kaaval
Director: Nagendran
Cast: Vimal, Samuthirakani, Geetha, Deva, MS Bhaskar, Imman Annachi
It opens with statistics about the innumerable killings perpetrated by mercenaries hired by powerful politicians and others to remove their enemies out of the way. While some of the cops are in nexus and in the payrolls of the mafia, a few like Chandrasekhar, an upright gutsy cop (Samuthirakani), is out to eliminate them. The mafia kingpin here is Karna (Deva cutting a menacing figure), who controls the real estate business, beach establishments, corporates and even the film industry.
With their fathers, both cops (Bhaskar and Annachi), paying obeisance to Karna, their respective sons Anbu and Arul (Vimal, Ashwin) too follow in their footsteps, swayed by the power Karna wields. The hero’s character here is slightly off-tangent from the ones we regularly get to see. The stepping in by the human rights commission when a culprit is killed arouses fury in Chandrasekhar, who wonders why it doesn’t happen when cops are killed ruthlessly. Anbu, turning informer to Karna and telling him about the police moves to capture him, are moments that he would regret later. The fight and chase scenes are stylishly choreographed. Like the one where Chandrasekhar and his picked team of encounter specialists ambush Karna and his gang around the beach area. There is romance between Anbu and Amrutha who run an event management company. But it doesn’t take much space. There are some thoughtfully-written lines. Like the ones where Chandrasekhar laments the miserable state of affairs where cops betray their own men and bring shame and dishonour to their fraternity.
With Vimal usually playing every character in almost the same way, there is not much variation to his performance here either. Geetha, in her first lead role fits in suitably and is adequate in her performance. But its Samuthirakani, who with his intensity and involvement, is the key strength of the film. The plot may not be an entirely new one, and some of the happenings too may seem familiar. But what the debutant director has managed to do, is to bring in some slight variations within the parameters of a familiar scenario. And more importantly, he has kept his story telling focused and crisp, and maintained a racy pace throughout. The screenplay rarely has any slackening moments nor wasted scenes. Fairly engaging in its story telling style, Kaaval seems to be a debutant director’s tribute to the police force.