Kaappaan (Review)

Kaappaan opens with a shot of Suriya jumping from a helicopter to a moving train, planting a bomb. The title appears when it blasts. We get what this is about only before the stretched climax sequences. It is almost a very outdated idea in 2019 to open a thriller genre film likewise. KV Anand’s Kaappaan is a film that wants to be a masala epic, it has a Thuppakki kinda terrorism background as well as a hero-villain cat & mouse play, also a corporate war cum farming plot like Kaththi. But none of this counts to be engaging. There is absolutely no scene that can hold your breath or give an emotional turmoil.

Kaappaan’s premise is resemble of its title, it fits to be a Vijay film. So, Suriya is Kathiravan, a military officer who’s assigned to be the security chief of PM Chandrakanth Varma (played by Mohanlal). It has shoddily written inconsistent Segments of PM getting attacked by terrorists one after another, and so many petty subplots opening through these. Sayyesha plays PM’s Secretary; Anjali who have this absurd romance with Kathiravan.

Second Half

It is also absurdly editing by Anthony, exactly like how the trailer was cut. Songs from nowhere pops up wildly unreasonable. When there’s some serious stuff in the plot going on, we have distractions like hell; Sayyesha who follows the hero is a ludicrous comedy & one ridiculous pub song filled with objectification. Also there were many segments that closes with screen blinking dark. Completely destroying the pace. While the second half of Kaappaan goes to KV Anand territories, it starts with an interesting bio war idea but ends as a charade of fabricated twists & turns. Climax is sort of a WTF moment. Absurd hilarity.

KN Anand has totally understated the brilliant Actors he have on board. Mohanal, who’s one of India’s finest is given a totally dud & dead role. He’s supposed to be the emotional crux of the film. But nothing gets a solid root. Suriya-Mohanlal dynamics is completely cringe worthy. Suriya here doesn’t go overboard like NGK, he’s a perfect fit, but unfortunately is terribly written (even in masala standards), action scenes too doesn’t make much impact: even the much hyped Peter Hein train fight is bland. Chirag Rani who played the Villain is a complete misfit & is made a fool out of his role with an extremely typical backstory. Arya & Boman Irani is nothing less than disappointment.

Kaappaan

I haven’t seen Kavan. But amongst other KV Anand Films, Kaappaan is the most underwhelming & uninteresting film. At one point, I thought this film – taking it’s political background could have been an interesting take on National Security or read with a religio-political converse. One scene where Ranjith; the villain escapes from being shot by entering a mosque. It’s a subtle indication of how Religion is kept shroud for terrorism. I wish the film had gone for themes like this. The only music moment which I invested in Kaappaan is Hey Amigo, which is well shot, choreographed & composed. So don’t expect Harris Jayaraj to make the film worth.

Wannabe espionage epic, but ultimately reduced to a Kho Kho play!
Rating 2/5