You know you are in a Rajesh M Selva movie if there’s at least one character who’s held captive, hoping to propel the narrative. He treats the character merely as a plot device. It happened with Thoongavanam , where it was Vasu (Arman Abdullah). Here, it is Akshara Haasan (her voice sounds like Shruti Haasan’s), playing Aatirah, married to Abi Hassan (who, in certain angles, resembles Vikram Prabhu), who is coincidentally named...Vasu.
Rajesh M Selva seems to have developed a fetish for writing scripts that air-drop lead characters into ludicrous situations (read: Hollywood thrillers). If Diwakar (played by Kamal Haasan) was caught in the middle of a drug mafia in Thoongavanam , KK (a never-disappointing Vikram) finds himself amidst two warring investigative teams, led by the Malaysian Police Department. There’s also a self-referential joke about Thoongavanam that lightens the otherwise tense mood.
With a sleek runtime of 120 minutes, there is not a single dull moment (thanks to M Ghibran whose score is rousing) in Kadaram Kondan , which perhaps could be argued as the film’s greatest achievement, considering the type of movie it is: action-thriller. It opens with a wounded KK, pulling off a Mission Impossible Ethan Hunt — jumping off the Petronas Twin Towers. While he’s on the run for his life, we are introduced to Vasu and Aatirah, who have just settled in Malaysia. The duo pass off as a young, happy couple not worrying too much about life. Aatirah is expecting her first child (a girl) and questions persist over their past (runaway couple?)
- Cast: Vikram, Akshara Haasan, Abi Hassan, Lena, Vikas and Jasmine
- Director: Rajesh M Selva
- Storyline: KK, a double agent-turned-mercenary, has to save himself and a young couple from the bad guys
When Vasu leaves for work, she asks who would take care of them in his absence. He says, “Aren’t you there for our baby?” To which, she retorts, “But for me?” The scene brings a sense of warmth to the audience. You wish there were more such natural moments, making the characters feel less alienated. Vasu works as a clinical nurse in a hospital, where KK is treated for his injuries. You get where I’m going with this, right? The conceit is nothing new, but the tightly-written screenplay does the work. Rajesh Selva builds the narrative well, allowing us to play the guessing game. But like KK, the film too needed an adrenaline rush that would have made it even tighter.
By now, you know that Kennedy (Hey, KK can be anybody!) has a secret life. He’s a double agent-turned-mercenary. One issue with Kadaram Kondan is that chunks of information — that helped in character development — are served as passing references. You could say that this is a far better approach than having a backstory. But the writing becomes convenient at places. For instance, KK’s relationship with a not-so significant character is revealed at the end. But why? Does this change anything otherwise? No.
But Vikram himself has very little to offer in Kadaram... although he breaks bones, takes bullets and does his own stunts. He gets fewer lines and makes you wonder if he was prepping for his next film with Mani Ratnam. KK is not an exceptional character written for Vikram — he would have pulled this off even while he was undergoing an intense diet for I . But given his recent choices, Kadaram... is definitely a welcome breather. Abi Hassan and Akshara, though quite comfortable in their roles, are badly miscast.
Had it been Bollywood, we would have had 20 opinion pieces, calling out on nepotism. But we don’t use the ‘N’ word here. The problem is, they don’t make you feel for their characters, especially Abi Hassan. Every time he’s around Vikram, you no longer feel his helplessness and can literally read his mind: “Look, I’m with KK. Which means I’m safe.”
For long, we have had pretentious thrillers and movies about double agents where filmmakers watered the screenplay down, pandering to the Kodambakkam audience. In that sense, it’s refreshing to watch a movie that is unapologetic in its approach. Just for that, Kadaram Kondan is significant, if not great.
