Actor Sivakarthikeyan seems to have decided that it is time to tool up and fast track the process of his anointment as a star. The actor’s latest, Kaaki Sattai, is a star vehicle, designed to re-brand the funny man as an underdog who fights the mighty and the corrupt single handedly. The result? He has pulled it off without embarrassing himself - an achievement in itself.
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The film really is a no brainer. It features Sivakarthikeyan in every sequence that other Tamil stars have been in the past: he falls in love at first glance; he lies to his girlfriend about his job, he taunts the City police commissioner despite being a constable and fights in the rain to save his girl. The film features a simple David vs Goliath plot: Siva is the David; he plays a young constable named Mathimaran, who unearths a massive organ trade ring. There are many Goliaths, one of whom is played by Bollywood actor, Vijay Raaz. Yet, the actor couldn’t have chosen a better film to turn into an action hero.
Despite taking his film down the formulaic path, filmmaker R.S. Durai Senthilkumar has managed to infuse freshness into it.
Most cop films are constructed around the idea that ‘a few bad apples don’t make an entire police force corrupt’. Durai turns this widely-believed dictum on its head. In this film, almost every cop openly admits that the system is so corrupt and beyond any reform. The first act of the film features actor Prabhu in the role of an inspector, who, whenever Mathimaran talks about justice and fairness, calls him naïve and schools him about the rottenness of the system. He tells him, “You talk too much. Bring me a case which nobody can touch, I will support you.”
The film is also surprisingly progressive: the film shines light on how poor migrant workers from North India live in abject poverty in Chennai. Not stopping with that, it identifies migrant workers positively as a part of Tamil society, worthy of the State’s protection and not simply as the ‘Other’.
The film has what every star vehicle needs: it has an energetic protagonist in Sivakarthikeyan, who shines in stunt sequences and in comedy. However, he looks awkward when performing difficult choreography. The music is enjoyable though; Anirudh Ravichander has given us foot-tapping numbers.
Going by the sound of whistles in the theatres, it is clear that the actor's experiment is a success. But one can only hope that Sivakarthikeyan is not trapped within his own recently-acquired stardom.