Director Chimbu Deven garnered the attention of Tamil cinema audience with his debut flick Imsai Arasan 23 Aam Pulikecei. The medieval comedy drama was the talk of the town then. His subsequent films did not enjoy much success with Puli being a box office disaster. Following years of tussle between him and comedian Vadivelu while making the sequel of Imsai Arasan 23 Aam Pulikecei, the director has finally moved on. He is back on track with his new release Kasada Thapara. The story teller has assembled an ensemble cast for the entertainer. So, how has the movie come out? To know that let us get in to the movie review.
Kasada Thapara follows the life of six different individuals that intertwine in interesting ways. The first short is about an honest middle-class man Bala (Premgi Amaren) who is simple and live in the moment type of guy. Then we have Trisha (Regina Cassandra) an ambitious young woman who desires to have a career with a heavy package. When Trisha meets Bala her perspective about life changes and she falls for Bala. The love between the lead characters in the flick is too idealistic for today’s world. Falling for a person just after seeing them feed street dogs, and help the person in finding their lost certificates might have been a selling point in the 90’s. Today they are not only cliches but a subject of comedy. It is refreshing to witness comedian Premgi Amaren turn in to hero Premgi Amaren. He shreds his regular gesticulations and performs normally. Actress Regina Cassandra is adequate for her role.
The following short is of a gangster (Sampath Raj). He is done with his life of crime and wants to derail track to live life as a normal man. He wants to do it so that he can reconcile his relationship with his son Isaac (Shantanu Bhagyaraj). Director Chimbu Deven aims to recite the distance in the relationship of a father and son. But he does not paint a clear picture of the relationship and rather moves hurriedly to discuss about the guilty conscience of the son. Since we do not know much about the relationship, we find it difficult to connect with what the character undergoes. As usual actor Sampath Raj makes his presence felt even in a limited screen time. Actor Shantanu Bhagyaraj has delivered a decent performance.
The next story talks about the abuse of power by policemen who set up planned encounters for their criminal political friends when they want to get rid of anyone – including friends and family – who become a problem. Kanda (Sundeep Kishan) is a newly appointed young police officer. His moral ethics place him against encounters. But his senior officer (Subbu Panchu) holds a rancor against him simply because of Kanda’s community. He does not like sitting with him in the same office and so he keeps sending him to do his dirty works. Actor Sundeep Kishan is natural and has depicted the role of a cop superbly. Actor Subbu Panchu has delivered what was asked of him.
The next character exploration is of a young man kish (Harish Kalyan) who wants to climb up to the top of the human ecosystem by cutting corners. He would not think twice to deploy deceitful methods to get his way. Actually, story teller Chimbu Deven has built the character arc of Kish with interesting ideas but he himself abandons them abruptly. Actor Harish Kalyan cakewalks his character showcasing he is growing as an actor.
The subsequent short has an interesting storyline of Sundari (Vijayalakshmi). Her son suffers from an unknown fever. Sundari would even go to the end of the worlds, if it would save her son, why not break a sentimental stereotype? She decides to pawn her Mangalsutra in order to cover the medical expenses of her child. While she is on her way to the pawn shop, chain snatchers snatch the only resourceful piece with her. The calm and pitiful mother switches mode and puts on a fight with the chain snatchers to get back the gold. Director Chimbu Deven attempts to break stereotypes through this flick. His sketch of his female character is powerful. He has neatly written and filmed the short film. It is easily the best one of the six. Actress Vijayalakshmi has got under the skin of the character. With her affecting performance, once again, the actress proves that she is a star performer.
The last of the six shorts is sort of like the final piece of the puzzle. It is about an innocent family man named Samyuthan (Venkat Prabhu). Every action of all lead characters in the previous shorts have an impact here. Venkat Prabhu shines as an actor in this final piece.
Film maker Chimbu Deven’s Kasada Thapara is neither an anthology nor a single plot feature film. Rather it is a hyperlink flick. The concept is indeed interesting but for a film of such style to hold our attention the screenplay is the key. It is this area Chimbu Deven falls behind. So does Kasada Thapara.
On the technical front, music director Yuvan Shankar Raja is not at his best yet, but is passable. The music directors Santhosh Narayanan, Ghibran, Premji Amaren, Sam C. S, and Sean Roldan’s scores add value to the film. Cinematographers Vijay Milton, M. S. Prabhu, S. R. Kathir, R. D. Rajasekhar, Balasubramaniem, and Sakthi Saravanan have let their frames do all the talking. And their work is well-supported by their colleagues, editors Anthony, Ruben, Praveen K. L, Vivek Harshan, Mu Kasi Viswanathan, and Raja Mohammad.
Overall, Kasada Thapara has a different narrative style for Tamil cinema which could have been a path setter if the cliches were ditched, and had it had its screenplay flow worked properly.
Kasada Thapara was released on Sony LIV OTT platform.
