Vignesh Raja loves a good cat-and-mouse hunt. And he is good at it, too. If "Por Thozhil" revolved around a couple of men on the good side of the law hunting for a serial killer, "Kara" puts its lead protagonist on the bad side of the law and derives suspense by trying to answer the simple question: Will he be able to get away?
But terms like 'good' and 'bad' don't apply to a Vignesh Raja movie. The 'good' (or 'white') in this case is more like grey, of varying shades. The 'bad' are truly black. Everyone has an agenda, and everyone wants to accomplish something. The circumstances, though, are different.
Despite not repeating what he did in "Por Thozhil", the filmmaker prompts you to reflect on whether someone's background really does have a bearing on the kind of individual they grow up to be. In "Kara", Dhanush's titular character becomes a criminal out of desperation. There are enough reasons for the audience to root for him — and the film even spells it out for us — without really the need for it, in case someone doesn't get the morality behind it all.
But at the same time, the film suffers a bit from presenting an all-too-familiar protagonist, someone quite similar to Dhanush from "Idli Kadai" (which he also directed). The repetitive melodramatic beats, with the urge to accompany them with dated musical choices, occasionally weaken the film in its pre-interval portions.
Now these choices — the temptation to make it more commercial — would've felt right at home in "Idli Kadai" because it was through and through an unabashedly old-school movie. Whether Vignesh was urged by the actor to revisit similar territory to align more with the latter's sensibilities or not, I cannot say for sure, but since this happens to be the director of "Por Thozhil", you expect something more subtle and close to real life. That film, despite being set in an earlier time period, just like "Kara", sans advanced technology, didn't feel compelled to make it more appealing to the masses.
"Kara", in fact, goes back a decade earlier than "Por Thozhil", when nobody used cellphones and the streets and villages looked more aesthetically pleasing with amber lights. These vintage settings also allow certain creative liberties because when you don't have surveillance cameras and super-advanced digital tech, some characters can remain elusive, if they are smart enough.
However, despite aiming for a more emotional storytelling this time around, the film doesn't quite succeed at pulling it off. Besides, the nearly three-hour runtime also begins to wear us out after a certain point. However, it gives Vignesh enough opportunities to stage some of the most elaborate and suspenseful heist sequences ever put to film. And to his credit, they are not "lifted" from any Hollywood movie.
The filmmaker, along with his co-writer Alfred Prakash (who also wrote their first film), manages to generate some refreshing humour out of them. Not to give anything away, but there are two robbery sequences where we encounter unforeseen comical situations, and they don't feel awkward at all.
We then slowly begin to realise why Vignesh opted to cast Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jayaram, and a couple of other secret names from Malayalam cinema. These actors can conjure up humour when necessary, even when they are supposed to be playing extremely serious characters. In fact, after one of these robberies, the camera holds for a few seconds on a poster of "Michael Madana Kama Rajan" as though to remind us that what you've just witnessed was a miniature version of something that Singeetam Srinivasa Rao would've done. Another delightful Kamal Haasan reference is planted in a more serious context, in the vein of "Rekhachithram".
Out of all actors, it's Suraj who gets the strongest character. He is relatable to a certain extent. Again, not to reveal any surprises, but we totally get why he does what he does, and we cannot blame him. His personality suggests a backstory of a cop who started as an extremely idealistic and upright officer who was eventually worn down by a corrupt system.
Mamitha Baiju's casting also makes sense, although she is playing the kind of character we have seen many times before — the wife who, despite being aware of her husband's true vocation, is trying to hold it all together and stand by him no matter what. Just like Dhanush's character, her role doesn't carry much depth, but gets the job done. K.S. Ravikumar, as Dhanush's father, infuses his character with the necessary emotional weight, providing the necessary impetus for the chain reaction of events that follow.
Though "Por Thozhil" and "Kara" are miles apart in terms of sensibilities, you'll find some common elements. A senior telling his scared junior to stand outside. A policeman discovering a body in a sudden flashing light. A hero remembering a past dialogue as a motivator to get him out of a suffocating (literally and figuratively) situation. People breaking into homes under a deadline....
We also get little nods (possible) to Michael Mann's "Heat" and Steven Spielberg's "Munich" in the staging of two separate stake-out situations — one involving the robbers, the other involving the cops. These are filmed with the right measure of finesse, demonstrating that Vignesh has the capabilities to mount films of even bigger scale, as long as he manages to keep them free of familiar commercial ingredients that could dilute his vision and stretch the duration beyond a necessary length.
Film: Kara
Director: Vignesh Raja
Cast: Dhanush, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jayaram, Mamitha Baiju, K.S. Ravikumar, Karunas
Rating: 3/5