Fresh comedy has a light touch with dark material

INTRODUCTION

VIJAY Sethupathi has succeeded at the box office with the offbeat comedy thriller Soodhu Kavvum, directed by newcomer Nalan Kumaraswamy. It also stars Sanchita Shetty, MS Bhaskar and Radha Ravi as well as introduces to the screen Ashok Selvan, RJ Ramesh Thilak, Simhaa and Yog Japee. The film entered the record books when 440-million rupees (about R75- million) was paid for the Hindi remake rights.

STORY

DAS (Sethupathi) is a kidnapper with a dismal record of success and an imaginary girlfriend, Shalu (Shetty). He decides to recruit some new talent in the form of Kesavan (Selvan), Sekar (Thilak), Pagalavan (Simhaa) and Bramma (Japee).

One day, the father of a child they kidnapped decides to hire them to kidnap Arumai Pragasam (Karuna Karan), the son of a high-

GOTCHA: Kidnapping is an unlikely subject for comedy, but somehow it works in profile politician, Gnanodhayam (Bhaskar). Initially reluctant, Das agrees because of the lucrative payment on offer. But things do not go as planned — with hilarious consequences.

PERFORMANCES

FULL credit goes to director Kumaraswamy for the depth in the performances extracted from each of the actors. Sethupathi, who plays the middle-aged Das, does a splendid job playing a very complex and endearing character. The debutantes also do well, as does Shetty. Bhaskar shines as the corrupt politician, but Ravi has an imposing presence as chief minister.

DIRECTION

KUMARASWAMY shows an eagerness to experiment and to break out of the traditional cinematic moulds. This is a superb first project. It will be interesting to see what he has in store.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

FROM the film’s opening sequences to the closing credits, Dinesh Krishnan’s cinematography delights with its varied angles and artistic light usage. His is certainly a talent

worth following closely.

SCREENPLAY AND SCRIPTING

ATTEMPTING a comedy thriller and using dark comedy is in itself a challenging task, but Kumaraswamy handles this with consummate ease, staying well away from corny routines.

MUSIC

SANTHOSH Narayanan ( Attakathi and Pizza) does a commendable job with the music. It is, however, a film that would have been much better without songs.

OVERALL

SOODHU Kavvum is a delightful comedy thriller with a unique brand of humour and is unmissable fun.