KAITHI

Lokesh Kanagaraj | Karthi, Dheena | 2019 | Action Thriller

Director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s second feature film after a well-crafted hyperlink story Maanagaram as his debut. Initially planned out to star Mansoor Alikhan in lead roles but later deciding upon Karthi, Narain, Dheena is a new experiment in Tamil Cinema. A film with minimal female characters, no lead heroine, no songs and shot completely at night showed the smartness and the capability of the director. His conviction to portray a story which plays out in one night with multiple characters and reasoning narrated through action sequences, is a complete delight to watch. Setting an example for the new generation film makers, Lokesh Kanagaraj has proven the industry that short film makers can succeed in feature films as well just like Karthik Subbaraj.

The story revolves around a drug supplying gang, a cop and a prisoner who helps the cop. Set in the backdrops of Trichy, the film establishes and justifies every action and reaction in the film. Co-written by Pon Parthiban, the film has a strong writing base which has helped the director to revolve characters around the conflict. Detailing and proper research has been the magical formula of the film’s success. 150 minutes of engaging action thriller has shown us the kind of filmmaker Lokesh is. Kaithi is a stand-alone example for experiments and a confidence for films to come out of the commercial stance. Post Super Deluxe, Kaithi has proven to be another film that breaks the stereotype of commercial cinema logic of songs and dance. A switch towards content-based films, the era of new and young filmmakers has seen a positive trend towards the new emerging Tamil Cinema Industry and Director Lokesh Kanagaraj has been one of the major contributors.

“When you cast the right actor for the right role, half the work is done”. Kaithi had on point casting; right from Karthi, Dheena and Narain to Arjun Das, Kanna Ravi and Harish Uthaman. Each character was tailored for these actors and helped in the portrayal really well. Clearly, Kaithi is one of the movies announcing the best of Karthi’s acting and his convincing action sequences enhanced the believability of the scenes. Dheena’s on point humorous counters made people laugh instantly and kept the audience engaged all throughout the film. Emotional angle between Karthi and his daughter were added positives and strengthened the plot line. On the other hand, cops Narain and Kanna Ravi did justice to their roles, antagonist Arjun Das, was the best find of last year and created a new trend amongst the existing antagonist patterns. Harish Uthaman’s strong acting as Adaikalam and Ramana’s underplay kept the story alive until the climax.

Technically Kaithi is one of the brilliant movies of the year, which exploited the freshness of new generation technicians in all the departments. Kudos to the sixteen assistant directors without whom a film completely shot at night would not be possible. With no songs and just the background score Music Director Sam CS elevated the scenes really well and made sure every single person had goose bumps at the peak points. Editor Philomin Raj retained from the filmmaker’s debut, has given crisp and clean cuts making the film enjoyable without overdoing the work. Cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan is a gem from PC Sreeram’s cinematography club. He has shown his capability in lighting the night scenes perfectly and giving the audience clear and innovative shots. Single takes, drone shots and close takes were absolute delight to watch on screen. A film through action narration would be incomplete without the perfect work of stunt masters Anbu – Arivu. The national award-winning stunt choreographers have proven their capability once again. In a nutshell, Kaithi – Lokesh’s smartness.