kaala movie review in tamil

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Don't Miss!

காலா - படம் எப்படி இருக்கு? ஒன் இந்தியா விமர்சனம்

ரஜினி நடிப்பில் மாசாக, க்ளாஸாக வந்துள்ள படம் காலா., recommended video.

சென்னை: பாட்டாளி மக்களின் 'நிலம் எங்கள் உரிமை' கோரிக்கையை, உலகுக்கு உணர்வுப்பூர்வமாக உரக்க சொல்கிறது காலா.

நடிகர்கள் - ரஜினிகாந்த், நானா படேகர், ஈஸ்வரி ராவ், ஹூமா குரேஷி, சமுத்திரக்கனி,சம்பத் ராஜ், சாயாஜி சிண்டே, அஞ்சலி பாட்டில், திலீபன், மணிகன்டன், பங்கச் திரிப்பதி, ரவி காலே, ரமேஷ் திலக், அருள் தாஸ், அரவிந்த் ஆகாஷ், சாக்ஷி அகர்வால், அருந்ததி, சுகன்யா, நிதிஷ்,

இயக்கம் - பா.ரஞ்சித், ஒளிப்பதிவு - ஜி.முரளி,

இசை - சந்தோஷ் நாராயணன்,

படத்தொகுப்பு - ஸ்ரீகர் பிரசாத்,

கலை - டி.ராமலிங்கம், ஒலிக்கலவை - ஆண்டனி பிஜே ரூபன்,

ஸ்டன்ட் - திலீப் சுப்பராயன்

மும்பையின் மையப்பகுதியான தாராவியில் வாழும் தமிழர்களை காக்கும் காவல் வீரன் காலா (ரஜினி). மனைவி செல்வி (ஈஸ்வரி ராவ்), நான்கு மகன்கள், பேரக்குழந்தைகள் என கூட்டுக் குடும்பமாக தாராவியில் வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார். மகாராஷ்டிராவின் முக்கிய அரசியல் கட்சியின் தலைவரான ஹரிதேவ் (நானா படேகர்) தாராவியை எப்படியாவது அடைந்துவிட வேண்டும் என்ற நோக்கத்தில், குடிசைகளை அகற்றிவிட்டு நவீன வீடுகள் கட்டித்தரும் 'தூய்மை மும்பை' திட்டத்தை செயல்படுத்த நினைக்கிறார். இதனை செயல்படுத்த தனது கட்சி பிரமுகரான விஷ்ணு பாயை (சம்பத் ராஜ்) நியமிக்கிறார். ஆனால் அதனை செயல்படுத்த காலா தடையாக இருக்கிறார். தமது படை தளபதியாக இருக்கும் இரண்டாவது மகன் செல்வத்தைக் கொண்டு (திலிபன்) அடாவடியாக எதிரிகளை காலா அடக்குகிறார். மறுபுறம் அடிதடியை விரும்பாத இளைய மகன் லெனின்(மணிகன்டன்), அஞ்சலி பாட்டிலுடன் இணைந்து மக்களை ஒன்று திரட்டி போராட்டம் நடத்தியும், விழிப்புணர்வை ஏற்படுத்தியும், தாராவியை சொர்க்கமாக்கும் வேலையை செய்கிறார்.

இதற்கிடையே தன்னார்வ தொண்டரான ரஜினியின் முன்னாள் காதலி சரினா (ஹூமா குரேஷி), தான் பிறந்த இடமான தாராவிக்கு மீண்டும் வருகிறார். ரஜினியின் மகன் லெனினுடன் இணைந்து தாராவியின் முகத்தை மாற்றும் வேலையில் ஈடுபடுகிறார். காலாவும், சரினாவும் மலரும் நினைவுகளில் மூழ்க, மனைவி செல்வி மனக்குழப்பத்துடன் கோபம் கொள்கிறார்.

இந்நிலையில், காலாவை போட்டுத்தள்ள சம்பத் ராஜ் போடும் ஸ்கெட்சில், அப்பாவி இளைஞன் ஒருவன் கொல்லப்படுகிறான். இதற்கு பழி தீர்க்கிறார் காலா. இதையடுத்து, மெயின் வில்லன் ஹரிதேவ் நேரடியாக களத்தில் இறங்குகிறார். காலாவும், ஹரிதேவும் நேரடி மோதலில் ஈடுபட, கடைசியில் ரஜினி எப்படி தாராவியை காப்பாற்றுகிறார் என்பது மீதிக்கதை.

நடிகர்கள்..

ரஜினி - காலாவில் ரஜினியின் நடிப்பு வேற லெவல். பேரக்குழந்தைகளுடன் கொஞ்சி விளையாடுவது, மனைவியிடம் பம்மி விழிப்பது, சரினாவை பார்த்ததும் காதலில் மூழ்குவது, எதிரிகளை கண்களாலேயே அடக்குவது என கிளாசாக மிரட்டி இருக்கிறார். கபாலியை போல், ரஜினிக்குள் இருக்குள் ஒரு நல்ல நடிகனை அழகாக வெளிகாட்டி இருக்கிறார். குறிப்பாக எந்த ஈகோவும் பார்க்காமல், இயக்குனரின் நடிகராக நடித்துக் கொடுத்திருக்கிறார்.

நானா படகேர் - ஒரு அரசியல் கட்சி தலைவராகவே திரையில் அப்படியே அச்சு அசலாக வாழ்ந்திருக்கிறார். தன்னை விட ஒரு பவர் புல்லான வில்லன் காலாவுக்கு இருக்க முடியாது என நிரூபித்திருக்கிறார். இரண்டாம் பாதி முழுவதையும் ஆக்கிரமித்துக்கொள்கிறார்.

ஈஸ்வரி ராவ் - இவர் தான் காலா படமே என சொல்லும் அளவுக்கு, காட்சிக்கு காட்சி ஸ்கோர் செய்கிறார். கணவனின் முன்னாள் காதலியை பார்த்து பொறாமைபடுவது, கணவனிடம் சண்டைபோடுவது போல், அவர் இசைவுக்கு ஏற்ற மாதிரி நடந்துகொள்வது என செல்விக்கு உயிர்கொடுத்திருக்கிறார். ஒரு நல்ல ரீ-என்ட்ரி ஈஸ்வரி ராவுக்கு. அழகாக பயன்படுத்திக் கொண்டிருக்கிறார்.

ஹூமா குரேஷி - காலாவின் காதலியாக உணர்வுப்பூர்வமான நடிப்பை வெளிப்படுத்தி இருக்கிறார். மிகவும் சிரமப்பட்டு, அழகாக தமிழ் பேசி நடித்திருக்கிறார். உதடசைவு அவ்வளவு கட்சிதம்.

சமுத்திரக்கனி - வள்ளியப்பனாக காலாவுக்கு துணை நிற்கும் அருமையான பாத்திரம். வழக்கம் போல் பிசிரில்லாமல் நடித்திருக்கிறார். எப்போதும் போதையில் இருக்கும் ஒருவனை அப்படியே திரையில் காட்டியிருக்கிறார்.

திலீபன்- வத்திக்குச்சி திலீபனா இது என அசத்தியிருக்கிறார் திலீபன். காலாவின் படைதளபதியாக, முரட்டுக்காளையாக திமிறியிருக்கிறார்.

மணிகன்டன் - விக்ரம் வேதா மணிகன்டனுக்கு இந்த படம், நிச்சயமாக நிறைய வாய்ப்புகளை ஏற்படுத்திகொடுக்கும் என்பதில் எந்த சந்தேகமும் இல்லை. சூப்பர் மணிகன்டன்.

அஞ்சலி பாட்டில் - ஒரு போராளி மராட்டி பெண்ணை பக்காவாக திரையில் கொண்டு வந்திருக்கிறார். அப்ளாஸ் அஞ்சலி.

இவர்களை தவிர படத்தில் நடித்துள்ள அனைவருமே தங்கள் கடைமையை சரியாக செய்திருக்கிறார்கள்.

இயக்கம்...

பா.ரஞ்சித்துக்கு ரஜினியுடன் இது இரண்டாவது படம் என்பதால், அவரை சரியாக புரிந்துகொண்டு நல்ல கதை களத்தை தேர்வு செய்து பாத்திரங்களை படைத்திருக்கிறார். அறுபது வயதான ஒரு வீரன், நிஜ வாழ்க்கையில் எப்படி இருப்பான் என்பதை அழகாக காட்சிபடுத்தி இருக்கிறார். உழைக்கும் மக்களுக்குகே நிலம் சொந்தம் என்ற கருத்தை, ரஜினியை வைத்து வெளியுலகுக்கு உணர்த்த முற்பட்டிருக்கிறார். அதற்கு ஏற்ற வகையில் வசனங்களும் மிக உணர்வுப்பூர்வமாக எழுதப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. மெரினா புரட்சி, தூத்துக்குடி துப்பாக்கிச் சூடு, ரஜினியின் சமூக விரோதிகள் கருத்து உள்ளிட்டவைகளுக்கு படத்தில் பதில் இருக்கிறது.

அதேபோல ரஜினி, ஹூமா குரேஷி காதல் பிளாஷ் பேக் காட்சிகளை, கிராப்பிக்சில் சொன்ன விதமும் பாராட்டுக்குரியது.

முதல் பாதி காதல், சென்டிமென்ட் ஆக்ஷன் என விறுவிறுப்பாக நகர்கிறது. ஆனால் இரண்டாம் பாதியின் நீளத்தை கொஞ்சம் குறைத்திருக்கலாம். அதுமட்டுமல்லாமல், வில்லன் கதாபாத்திரம் ஹீரோவைவிட செம வெயிட்டாக இருக்கிறது. அதை சமன் செய்திருந்தால், ரஜினி ரசிகர்களுக்கு பக்கா விருந்தாக இருந்திருக்கும்.

மற்றவை...

ஜி.முரளியின் ஒளிப்பதிவும், ராமலிங்கத்தின் கலை வேலைபாடுகளும் அபாரம். மும்பை தாரவியை அப்படியே திரையில் கொண்டு வந்திருக்கிறார்கள். சந்தோஷ் நாராயணின் இசையில் பாடல்கள் சுமாராகவே இருக்கிறது. காட்சியின் வேகத்தையும், விறுவிறுப்பையும் கூட்டும் வகையில் பின்னணி இசை அமைக்கப்படவில்லையோ என தோன்றுகிறது.

மற்றபடி காலா சொல்ல வரும் செய்தி இந்த உலகுக்கு உரக்க சொல்லப்பட வேண்டும். காலா, ரஞ்சித் படம். நிறைய எதிர்பார்த்ததாலோ என்னவோ ஏமாற்றம் அளிக்கிறது. மற்றபடி படத்தை குடும்பத்துடன் பார்க்கலாம்.

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• Kaala Tamil Movie Review And Rating

திரைப்பட விமர்சனம்

Kaala Review: சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ரஜினிகாந்தின் 'காலா'

Critic's rating, avg user rating, rate this movie, உங்களுக்கானவை.

அடுத்த விமர்சனம்

'காலா' திரைப்படத்தின் விமர்சனம்...!

'காலா' திரைப்படம் பல மாதங்களாக ரஜினி ரசிகர்கள் அனைவராலும் எதிர்பார்க்கப்பட்ட திரைப்படம் எனலாம். மக்களுக்காக போராடும் போராளியாக வரும், ரஜினியை பற்றியும், மும்பை தாராவி மக்களின் வாழ்க்கையை பற்றியும் சொல்லும் கதை என ஏற்கனவே படக்குழுவினர் தெரிவித்து விட்டனர். இதனால் இந்த படத்தின் மீதான எதிர்ப்பார்ப்பு அனைவர் மத்தியிலும் அதிகமாகவே இருந்தது என கூறலாம். இன்று உலகம் முழுவதும் வெளியாகியுள்ள இந்த திரைப்படம் எப்படி இருக்கிறது என்கிற விமர்சனத்தை பார்ப்போம்.

'காலா' கதைக்களம்:

நெல்லையில் இருந்து மும்பை தாராவி வந்து, தன்னுடைய தந்தைக்கு பின் தாராவி மக்களை தன்னுடைய கட்டுப்பாட்டில் வைத்து மக்களுக்கு நல்லது செய்பவர் தான் 'கரிகாலன்' என்கிற 'காலா சேட்டு'.

தாராவி பகுதியில் 8 க்கு 8 யில் வாழும் மக்களுக்கு நல்லது செய்கிறேன், தாராவியை சுத்தமாக்குகிறேன் என்று கூறி வருபவர் தான் சைலென்ட் வில்லத்தனத்தில் மாஸ் காட்டி இருக்கும் 'நானா பட்நேக்கர்'

இந்த ப்ரோஜெட்க்டை உள்புகுத்த வேண்டும் என்று, ரஜினிக்கு எதிராகவும், மக்களுக்கு எதிராகவும் பல சதி திட்டங்களை தீட்டி, கடைசியில் தாராவியை சுத்தம் செய்கிறாரா நானா பட்நேக்கர், ஏன் இந்த திட்டத்தை ரஜினி எதிர்க்கிறார் என்பது தான் 'காலா' படத்தின் கதைக்களம்.

படம் பற்றிய ஒரு பார்வை...

ஆதி காலத்தில் மனிதன் எப்படி தோன்றினான் என்றும் எப்படி அடிமையாக்கப்பட்டான் என்றும் ஒரு சிறு தொகுப்பை காட்டி படத்தை துவங்கி இருக்கிறார் ரஞ்சித். ரஜினியின் என்ட்ரி மாஸ் ஆக ஆரம்பிக்கும் என பார்த்தால், அதிலும் அவுட் செய்துவிட்டார் ரஞ்சித். இதை படத்தில் பார்த்தால் நீங்களே தெரிந்துக்கொள்வீர்கள்.

ரஜினியின் மனைவியாக நடித்திருக்கும் ஈஸ்வரிராவின் நடிப்பு ரசிகர்களின் மனதை வருடுகிறது. இந்த படத்தில் ரஜினிக்கு மகன்களாக நடித்துள்ள வத்திகுச்சி தீபனின் நடிப்பு அசத்தல். இது வரை ரஞ்சித்தின் மெட்ராஸ் படத்தில் சிறு கதாப்பாத்திரத்தில் தோன்றிய நடிகருக்கு லெனின், என்ற போராளியின் பெயரை சூட்டி அவருடைய நடிப்பை அழகாக வெளிக்கொண்டு வந்துள்ளார் ரஞ்சித்.

எப்போதும் ரஜினியுடனே இருக்கும் கதாப்பாத்திரத்தில் நடித்துள்ளார் சமுத்திரகனி. எப்போதும் வித்தியாசமான நடிப்பை தேர்வு செய்து வெளிப்படுத்தி வரும் இவர் இந்த படத்தில் குடித்துக்கொண்டே இருக்கும் ரஜினியின் நண்பராக நடித்துள்ளார்.

தற்போதைய காலத்தில், திருமணத்திற்கு பின் தனிக்குடித்தனம் செல்ல பிரிந்துவிடும் சூழலில் கூட்டுக்குடும்பத்தின் அருமை பெருமைகளும் இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது.

தாராவியில் பிறந்து வளர்ந்து... அமெரிக்காவிற்கு சென்று ஒரு பில்டிங் காண்ட்ராக்ட்டராக வரும் 'ஹீமோ குரோஷிக்கும்' ரஜினிக்கும் என்ன உறவு என்பது ஆரம்பத்திலேயே நமக்கு புரிந்தாலும். இவருடைய காதல் பார்வையை சாமர்த்தியமாக சமாளிக்கும் மனைவியாக நடித்து இங்கும் கைதட்டல்களை அள்ளுகிறார் ஈஸ்வரி.  

தாராவியை சுத்தம் செய்ய அரசாங்கம் தான் வரவேண்டும், தனியார் கம்பெனி வரக்கூடாது முக்கியமாக நானா பட்நேக்கர் வரவே கூடாது என எதிர்க்கும், பிரச்சனையில் குடும்ப நபர்களை இழக்கும் ரஜினி பின் எப்படி வில்லத்தனத்தை முறியடிக்கிறார், ஜெயிக்கிறார் என்பது தான் மீதிக்கதை.

சந்தோஷ் நாராயணன் மியூசிக்:

'கண்ணம்மா' பாடல் மூலம் மனதை வருடுகிறார். தங்கசிலை பாட்டு சான்ஸ் சே இல்லை ஈஸ்வரிக்கு கச்சிதமாக பொருந்துகிறது. அதே போல் நிக்கல் நிக்கல் பாடல் போராட்டத்தின் தீவிரத்தை பேசும் வகையில் உள்ளது. மொத்தத்தில் அனைத்து பாடல்களும் சூப்பர் என்று சொல்வதை தவிர வேறு வார்த்தை இல்லை.

பின்னணி இசையிலும் வெளுத்து வாங்கியுள்ளார் சந்தோஷ் நாராயணன்.

'காலாவின் பிளஸ்'

ரஞ்சித்தின் எதார்த்தமான கதை.

ரஜினியின் ஸ்டைலை குறைத்து அவரை கையாண்டு உள்ள விதம் அருமை.

இடைவேளை மாஸ் 

நானா பட்நேக்கர் - ரஜினி - ரகுவரனை காட்சியை நினைக்க வைக்கிறது. 

ஹீமோ குரோஷியின் காதல் கபாலி படத்தின் தாக்கத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது.

இரண்டாம் பாதி காரணத்தோடு காட்சிகள் வந்தாலும் வன்முறையே அதிகம் உள்ளது. இது கதைக்கு தேவையா என்று தோன்றுகிறது.

மொத்தத்தில் கபாலி படத்தில் விட்ட இடத்தை இந்த படத்தின் மூலம் ஸ்கெட்ச் போட்டு, பிடித்திருக்கிறார் ரஞ்சித். இது மக்களுக்கு குரல் கொடுத்தவரின் சிறந்த கதை என அனைவராலும் பாராட்டப் பட்டு வருகிறது.

ஏசியா நெட் ரேட்டிங்: 3.5 / 5

• rajinikanth

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Kaala Movie Review

Director: Pa. Ranjith

Cast: Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi, Aruldoss, Eswari Rao, Samuthirakani, Anjali Patil

Language: Tamil

Six years after Mullum Malarum (1978), director Mahendran and star Rajinikanth made Kai Kodukkum Kai , a sensitive drama now remembered mostly for the Ilayaraja beauty, Thazhampoove vaasam veesu . The film bombed. It's difficult to say why exactly a film fails — it could be a wrong release date, or maybe it wasn't publicised well, or maybe it just wasn't very good. With Kai Kodukkum Kai , however, there was another consideration, that the actor of Mullum Malarum had now become a huge action star, having made a series of hits ( Murattu Kaalai , Thee , Moondru Mugam , Paayum Puli ) in the intervening years. This resulted in Mahendran making some compromises, and Anandha Vikatan , in its review, complained that the film was stranded in between Mahendran-ism and Rajini-ism. I was reminded of this statement when I watched the first Pa Ranjith-Rajinikanth collaboration, Kabali . I remembered it again when I saw Kaala .

Tamil cinema has made villains of soft drinks manufacturing MNCs and organ-trafficking gangs

Can a filmmaker with a unique vision retain that uniqueness when the film stars a one-size-fits-all brand like Rajinikanth? This is not a new question. It came up when Mani Ratnam took the superstar on in Thalapathy . But because the story was a largely emotional one that spun variations on familiar beats — action, drama, relationships — the shoe fit. Ranjith, however, is a far more political filmmaker, and unlike Mani Ratnam, he isn't content to tell a story around his star. He wants his star to be the speaker through which he disburses his ideologies. In that respect, it must be said that Kaala is far more accomplished than Kabali — far more interesting as well. If Mani Ratnam looked at the Mahabharata , Ranjith takes his inspiration from the Ramayana — though not the traditional versions. His Ramayana is the one from rationalist readings by intellectuals like Periyar (whose name is found on a road sign in Kaala ), which also cast the epic in an Aryan vs. Dravidian light. Not only did Rama become a bit of a bad guy (and a racist), the dark-skinned Ravana was reclaimed as something of a hero, whose kidnapping of Sita was simply an act of revenge for the cruelty Rama inflicted on his sister, Surpanakha. Hence the colour reversal in Kaala : the hero wears black, the villain floats in a sea of white (which includes his clothes, his walls and even the upholstery in his living room).

Also Read: Rajinikanth's Kaala Puts The Spotlight Back On Merchandising

This is a story about land. Ranjith has always been invested in real estate and issues of ownership. In Madras , it was a wall fought over by political parties. In Kabali , the protagonist spoke of how Tamil labourers transformed a region of forests into present-day Malaysia, and were now being driven out of the country they helped build. Kaala begins with an animated prologue (oh, how Ranjith loves his scene-setting prologues!) about the urban poor in Indian cities, and zooms in on Mumbai, where slums spread out like the shadows of skyscrapers. This sounds like a ripe premise for a masala movie, with the land grabber as the villain. After all, Tamil cinema has made villains of soft drinks manufacturing MNCs and organ-trafficking gangs. A "social issue" is so often reduced to an easy target, so the hero can deliver clap-worthy punch dialogues about exploitation.

There's a terrific visual of Kaala striding grimly through a carpet of fire, but there's also a character named Shivaji Rao Gaekwad who gets killed

But the revised- Ramayana angle makes Kaala very different. (Ranjith revises it even further, by making his Ravana the father of four sons, one of whom undergoes a " vanavasam ".) In a stretch towards the end (inexplicably staged in Hindi, with subtitles that are sure to be overlooked by many), we are told that  each time a head of Ravana's fell, a new one would take its place. The subtext is absolutely revolutionary for a film with a megastar like Rajinikanth. It's not about a single hero. It's about a people's movement, where if the hero falls, someone else will rush to take his place and continue his work. The pre-interval scene emphasises this distance from routine heroism (though, like most other ideas in the film, it sounds better on paper than it plays on screen). The villain's car is blocked by angry masses. His associate asks if he should shoot them down. The sardonic reply: "How many bullets do you have?"

This stress on the collective results in the eradication (in a way) of the individual — never has Rajinikanth, who plays Kaala, been used this way, as practically a symbol . (Ranjith hasn't used Rajinikanth for what he brings to the table as an actor so much as what he stands for as a star.) There's a terrific visual of Kaala striding grimly through a carpet of fire, but there's also a character named Shivaji Rao Gaekwad who gets killed. There's a point you expect Kaala to cry, but the lamenting duties go to someone else. There's a point, after the smashing " Kya re ? Setting aa ?" line, where you expect Kaala to fight, but the action duties go to someone else. You expect the flashback to show a younger semblance of Rajinikanth (like we saw in Kabali ), but the actor is replaced by an animated version. Rajinikanth, himself, is older. The Rajini-isms from his past (the Oho kick-u yerudhe song and dance from Padayappa , the two-heroine scenario from films like Veera ) are refitted around a character with grandchildren, and even the fanfare behind the S-U-P-E-R S-T-A-R letter formation at the beginning is replaced with the siren we heard throughout Kabali , though in a much muted form.

This, I think, is the film Ranjith wanted to make, but because you cannot take Rajinikanth entirely out of a Rajinikanth movie, the superhero clichés crawl back in. Literally so — for the boy who goes to summon Kaala (this is the hero introduction shot) is seen in a Captain America T-shirt. And Kaala is left dangling between Ranjith-ism and Rajini-ism. Despite the empowerment of the masses, the story plays out for the longest time like a routine hero-versus-villain saga. The villain is a saffron-tinged politician, and Nana Patekar imbues him with his brand of subtle menace (and also gets to say magizhchi ; in a further instance of subversion, the expression from Kabali is now uttered by the antagonist). But the character is severely undermined by having the actor dub his Tamil lines. He sounds like a tiger in Hindi and Marathi. He sounds like Kajal Agarwal in Tamil.

Adding to the narrative chaos, the ideator/ideologue in Ranjith seems to have taken over the writer/filmmaker in him. The ideas are great, and make you think : the death of a villain is usually intercut with the slaying of a demon, but here, we get shots of a god (Ganpati) being immersed. But what about execution? A pre-interval action sequence recalls the one from Madras , but without the bravura shot-taking. You could write a small thesis on the difference between the Ranjith of Attakathi/Madras and the Ranjith of Kabali/Kaala . Compare the fabulous way the breakdancers were incorporated into the choreography of Kaagidha kappal versus the suddenness with which Kaala 's rappers invade the frames. Compare the electricity at the point where the protagonist of Madras threw paint on the wall to the gimmicky scene, here, of black powder being sprayed on the villain. We are a long way from the playfulness of the fractured tracking shots from Attakathi — the basic choreography of the scenes with Kaala's large family bring to mind the Fazil era, where the cast was lined up as though for a school assembly.

The most mystifying aspect of Kaala , in the context of a mainstream Tamil film, may be how ineffectual the deaths are

Even the writing feels different. There are some nice, wry bits like when a man from the slums realises what it's like to climb the many floors of a high rise in the absence of a functioning elevator. But the bigger scenes feel hollow. Remember how crushing Anbu's demise was in Madras ? Ranjith fails to locate similar veins of sadness here. The return of a son into the family fold is glossed over, the reformation of a traitor to the cause is buried in a song — it's like Ranjith decided to do away with the usual emotions, but masala entertainers thrive on bursts of emotion, without which they wilt. The most mystifying aspect of Kaala , in the context of a mainstream Tamil film, may be how ineffectual the deaths are. A boy is found hanging, but we barely know him, so his mother's grief remains at a distance. Kaala's father is killed, but as this is depicted in animation, we are disconnected from Kaala's feelings — and even later, the death hardly seems to matter to Kaala. Now take the other Tamil drama based on the life of a Dharavi don, Nayakan — every time someone died, it felt like a hammer blow to the chest, and it changed the protagonist in some way. Here, Kaala is the same before and after a member of his family dies, so you wonder what narrative purpose the death served. Santhosh Narayanan works hard to elevate these scenes with his score, but his songs stand out more. A single line from Kannama ( Aagayam saayamal thoovanamedhu ) is more evocative than anything in the movie.

Maybe we are witnessing a new form of filmmaking, a breakaway: "agitprop masala ." But I just saw a filmmaker who was so in love with what he wanted to say that he didn't care how he said it. How can you forgive the scene where the upper classes are reduced to caricatures, casually tossing off lines like, "60% of the people in Dharavi are criminals"? Where's the nuance? But you must give Ranjith this. His usual Easter eggs are everywhere — Ambedkar, Buddha (contrasted with a statue of Rama, in an upper-caste house), the colour blue running throughout (Kaala dresses only in black or blue) — but for the first time, he brings the Dalit undercurrent to the surface. It's explicit in the scene where the villain refuses to touch the water in Kaala's house.

Also Read: Chennai Celebrates Rajinikanth's Kaala

Several characters are terribly underwritten. Huma Qureshi, who does a lot of mournful staring, plays Zareena, Kaala's former love. We also learn she is a single mother, a point dangled like it's going to go somewhere, until it doesn't. She's a world-renowned specialist in the rehabilitation of slums — " Namma Dharavi ya naama dhaan maathanum ," she says ( We should be the ones who change our Dharavi) — yet it doesn't seem to bother her that a developer proposes to waste 75 acres of Dharavi land on a golf course. (We know it's 75 acres because the characters have a way of passing on Ranjith's research as "dialogue." Elsewhere, we meet a girl whose name is the Greek word for "black." Fun facts, for the price of a ticket and popcorn!) Anjali Patil shows up as an activist. By the end of the film, I was still waiting to know what happens to her. And the mongrel that featured so prominently on posters wanders about with a lost look, as though someone forgot to feed it its lines.

This is nothing Rajinikanth hasn't done before, but it's still fun to be reminded of his instincts for comedy

But Eswari Rao, as Kaala's wife, transforms a one-note character into something very special. She has a smile that lights up the skies and the film's energy levels shoot up whenever she's around. (Ranjith writes older women really well: the shrill mother in Attakathi , the mother prone to emotional blackmail in Madras , and even Kumdhavalli from Kabali , who was easily the film's most interesting character.) Samuthirakani is characteristically terrific. I wish he made fewer films and acted more — he nails a drunk's exaggerated efforts at appearing sober. Manikandan, as Kaala's son, brings a very palpable anger and sadness — the character is one of the more interesting ones, an anti -rowdy, in contrast to his father. (He believes in peaceful protests like the one in Thoothukudi.)

And Rajinikanth? What do you say? It's nothing he hasn't done before, but it's still fun to be reminded of his instincts for comedy. His eye-roll when his wife speaks in English is spectacularly funny. His punchline delivery is sharp as ever, but the role assumes another dimension due to the actor's politics. Of course, here he is an actor mouthing someone else's lines, but the effect of his recent public statements hangs like a shadow. An early line goes, " Kodi pazhasaana erakki thaaane aaganum ! (You have to lower a flag when it gets old.) A statement? I don't care, frankly. I'm just glad the two-film deal is over. Now, Ranjith can go back to being Ranjith, and Rajinikanth (on the evidence of Karthik Subbaraj's statement that his film with the superstar is an apolitical entertainer) can go back to being Rajinikanth.

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KAALA MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

After Kabali, Rajinikanth and director Pa Ranjith are back with their second outing together, Kaala. The makers did not hype the film much like Kabali which we should say has worked in favour of Kaala. People who enter the theatre with no expectations might be pleasantly surprised.

The film is all about the fight for land and Pa Ranjith wastes no time and establishes that clearly with the very first scene. A powerful politician wants to clear a slum in the name of a scheme to make Mumbai a better place, but he has an ulterior motive. We know who the politician (Nana Patekar) is and we know who is not going approve of this plan (Rajinikanth). All these are pretty clear from the teasers. But how and what happens, in the end, is all that we need to know.

Coming to director Pa Ranjith, he is known for making films that talk about oppressed people. Kaala is no different and even the making is in typical Pa Ranjith style. It moves at a leisurely pace. And the second half is largely about protests. If you have followed the recent political developments in Tamil Nadu, you will relate to the film more. Having said that, it is better you don’t mix up the film with Rajinikanth’s recent speech which might turn you off.

Kaala is more emotional, it has a relationship based story intertwined with social issues. Pa Ranjith has played to the gallery to make all sections of the audience enjoy the movie. Rajinikanth and Eswari’s romance portion is refreshing and suits Rajini’s current image. Huma Qureshi’s love track looked a little stretched. But one feels that it is done to establish the fact that Kaala would not even mind going against the love of his life.

Though sparse in number, the mass elements that we expect in a Rajinikanth film keeps the core fans buzzing. The screenplay is much tighter this time in spite of sentiment scenes taking the centre stage.

Kaala is an archetypal Pa Ranjith film with adequate Superstar mass moments. Rajinikanth is back with full vigour and energy, which is a major boost. His evergreen screen presence is exemplary and unmatchable no matter how old he gets. Rajini’s costumes and other accessories like coolers and umbrella have become style statements among the younger lot already. Fans who are longing to watch Rajini in a complete mass avatar are will be pleased.

There are plenty of slow-motion shots, crowd-pleasing mass scenes and most importantly the style of Superstar has been put to good use with the support of some terrific background score by Santhosh Narayanan. We can sense that Pa Ranjith has worked on things that he was criticized for in Kabali. However, the second half deals with protests and is majorly dialogue-oriented, and it may seem less engaging at some points.

There are 4 fight scenes in Kaala, all choreographed well by Dhilip Subbarayan. Rajini sits back and watches his son smashing the baddies in the first two fight scenes and when you expect him to do the same again for the third time, you get to see the action side of Kaala which will be an ultimate treat to Rajini fans.

Santhosh Narayanan adds a lot of strength through his BGM score. If you hear the theatre roar for some of the strong scenes, the major part of the credit should go to him. The songs are purely situational, so if you weren’t impressed with the album earlier, you might very well fall in love with a few of the tracks after watching the movie.

The inclusion of veteran editor Sreekar Prasad has made a big difference. In spite of the film talking about a hard-hitting subject that runs for 2 hours and 49 minutes, there aren’t any scenes that seemed unwanted. Not to forget cinematographer Murali’s work which sets the tone for Kaala. Ramalingam needs to be praised for recreating the Dharavi slum exceedingly well.

Among the other performers, Nana Patekar is a new addition to the list of powerful, deadly and memorable villains of Rajinikanth films. A well etched out character which gets enhanced with an irreproachable performance.

All the supporting actors, from Samuthirakani, Dileepan, Manikandan and others have done their part well. Not just Rajinikanth’s role, Kaala has 4 to 5 indelible characters that will stay close to your heart.

KAALA VIDEO REVIEW

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KAALA NEWS STORIES

Kadaikutty Singam is now the highest in 2018! Surpasses Kaala!

Much awaited Nikkal Nikkal video song from Kaala

New Rajinikanth video song is here!

Pa Ranjith's next directorial after Kaala - Another huge film

Kaala related news stories.

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KAALA PHOTOS

KAALA RELATED CAST PHOTOS

Huma Qureshi

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Samuthirakani

Ms bhaskar's top-tuckeru kaala performance - laughter guaranteed videos, human fart gives life to car crashing | vijay rathinam videos, kaala songs review.

A surprising start to the album, and an even bigger surprise if it's the "intro" song for the superstar, Sema Weightu is a restless and dynamic hip-hop track with racy rap and beatbox portions that make for a sheer musical ride. A delightfully zingy number awaits fans of both Rajinikanth and Santhosh Narayanan!

Thanga Sela Lyrics: Arunraja Kamaraj Singers: Shankar Mahadevan, Pradeep Kumar, Ananthu

For a composition like Kannamma that is already soulful, an acapella version is sure to add another dimension, and they do. Ananthu is wonderful all throughout, be it the vocals or the whistle portions. Urimayai Meetpom Lyrics: Arivu Singers:  Vijay Prakash , Ananthu

Urimayai Meetpom is not easy to place since its percussion setup screams "easy going gaana" but its heavy and focused lyrics - by Arivu - point at a social-message song to motivate the masses. This uncomfortable mix might dilute its power and punch, had they been intended.  

Poraaduvom Lyrics: Dopeadelicz, Logan Singers:  Dopeadelicz

As the name suggests, Poraaduvom preaches revolution, but in rap form. Layers in the background aim to boost the vocals to another level of impact, but whether they do so, is debatable. Dopeadelicz is worthy of mention for their lyrics which sound like slogans at places, though. Theruvilakku Lyrics: Dopeadelicz, Logan Singers: Dopeadelicz, Muthamil

Nikkal Nikkal sounds super cool - the contrast of thara local percussions with a deep bass beat sounds dope. A good track for your musical palate to finish the album with. You will understand that adjectives like theri, kizhi are the ones that should probably be used to describe the song when you listen to it, so do!

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‘Kaala’ review: This Rajinikanth-Pa Ranjith film brings revolution to the screen

There is a reason why epics are timeless. The human emotions they locate within the theatre of life are eternal. The struggles they speak of have always existed. But there is yet another reason why epics endure - they are open to interpretation. The stories within the story have the power to change its meaning, depending on which episodes the storyteller wants to emphasise. And from whose point of view.

The storyteller here is Pa Ranjith, his voice more assured than ever before. The point of view is that of Ravana's, the symbol of evil for caste Hindus. The idea isn't new, of course. Epic re-tellings have made their way to Tamil cinema before (Mani Ratnam's disappointing  Ravanan,  for one). It's the defiant way in which Ranjith situates it which makes  Kaala  such an immediate, thrilling experience.

Rajinikanth plays Kaala, a don under whose protection the people of Dharavi live. Their fight is for the land - and as the film tells us in the beginning, war began with private property and it continues to be fought for it. Ranjith's films have been discussed a great deal for their subtext. In  Kaala , however, the subtext isn't hiding in the margins. It's out in the light, for everyone to see. It's in the clothes Kaala wears - either blue or black. It's in the name of the builder who wants to destroy the slum - Manu realty. It's in the name of the political party the spotlessly white clothed Hari dada (Nana Patekar) belongs to - Navbharath Nationalist Party. Even in the breed of the dogs the two men own. Kaala has a mongrel named Asami. Hari dada has an almost white Labrador we spot briefly in a shot.

But the film isn't just a did-you-catch-that game. It's not just about hoardings of Swacch Bharat that leer down upon Dharavi or the Buddha at Kaala's home. It's not merely the glimpses of Ambedkar in the background.  Kaala  is surefooted in going beyond that. 

It weaves a compelling story around characters we cannot easily predict. There's Zarina (Huma Qureshi), Kaala's long lost love. But she's not  just  that. There is Lenin (who is suitably dressed in red for a good part), Kaala's son who disapproves of his father's ways and yet lives under the same roof as him. There's Charumathy/Puyal (Anjali Patil) who overturns Tamil cinema's favourite ideas of honour in one terrific scene that brought tears to my eyes. There is Selvi (Easwari Rao), who orders Kaala around (reminding us a little of Kumudhavalli) and shares a deliciously crafted romance with him. And of course, there's Valliappan (Samuthirakani) who is something of a semi-awake Kumbhakarna, always by Kaala's side.

All of these people matter to the story, a story whose age suits the style of an epic.

They are not there to make Kaala look good against the army of Ram. Nana Patekar is effortless in his portrayal of Hari dada. His dubbing in the trailer had some of us worried but in the film, the mix of Hindi-Tamil-Marathi that he slips into crawls under our skin in the way it is meant to. His face-offs with Rajini work so well because both stars are at the peak of their game. 

Is it a Rajinikanth film? Well, there's that stunningly shot superman rain fight which will have fans go crazy. There's that scene at the police station where Rajini mocks a minister with a punchline (hint: if you've followed the Thoothukudi protests, the irony hits you in the face). Or the one where he actually seems to transform into a Ravana, waging battle through the flames. However, the joy of watching Rajinikanth the performer, minus the swish-swash music that has accompanied every on screen move of his, is inexplicable. He is still a demi-god but not one whose feet you need to touch. Ranjith is much more confident in handling Rajinikanth's star power and harnessing it than he was in  Kabali - the 'young' Rajini in  Kabali  was to pander to the audience. In  Kaala , young Rajini's story is an animation strip - to tell us what happened, not to get us clapping.  Vengayin mavan  is standing by himself, all right. 

Murali G's cinematography and Santosh Narayanan's background score up the ante in nearly every scene. But, all of it is melded into a framework that has Pa Ranjith's signature all over it.  

The ending, which explodes in a riot of colours, mimicking Holi (celebrated to mark the death of a demon...you know, the kind who is associated with Ravana) is brilliant. As black, blue, and red triumph and overturn our ideas of Good and Bad, Black and White, Pa Ranjith's achievement is unmistakable. He has made Rajinikanth meaningful, not a mere prop.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film's producers or any other members of its cast and crew.

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Kaala (U/A) 07/Jun/2018 Action, Drama 2 Hrs 45 Mins

Critics Review

Rajini's celebration of black.

If you were to term Kabali as Rajni's movie directed by Pa. Ranjith. Kaala is Pa Ranjith's movie in which Rajini has acted. Go to watch for Rajini the actor and not the Superstar. (more)

Source: Movie crow editorial borad, MovieCrow

Kaala would be remembered as one of the best climaxes in a Rajinikanth movie.

Ranjith gives a spin to the classic white-is-pure-and-black-is-evil logic. Here, Ram is bad and Ravan is good. Watch out for the confrontation scenes between Nana Patekar and Rajinikanth. They are total paisa vasool. Hearing Rajini speak in Hindi and Marathi at times will be a delight for his fans. (more)

Source: Subramanian Suryanarayanan, Times Of India

Source: PRasanth, Prashanth

Nothing original, surprising or remotely unpredictable

Kaala is an average political propaganda film which is watchable only for Rajinikanth and a few high moments. (more)

Source: Moviebuzz, Sify.com

Kaala is indeed Superstar's commercial movie but in Pa Ranjith's true style!!!

Kaala is an archetypal Pa Ranjith film with adequate Superstar mass moments. Rajinikanth is back with full vigour and energy, which is a major boost. His evergreen screen presence is exemplary and unmatchable no matter how old he gets. Rajini's costumes and other accessories like coolers and umbrella have become style statements among the younger lot already. Fans who are longing to watch Rajini in a complete mass avatar are will be pleased. (more)

Source: Behindwoods Review Board, Behindwoods.com

Source: Maathevan, Behindwoods.com

Witness Rajinikanth - The Actor in this layered Pa Ranjith revolution

Kaala isn't a film about a gangster but a film about revolution. And Ranjith stays true to his objective. The traces of what we saw in Kabali have been fleshed out and beautifully embellished. Just the mere fact that I have mentioned Ranjith more than Rajinikanth in this review is an indication of the voice he has as a filmmaker. And it is also equally appreciable that Rajinikanth has let the young filmmaker holler through him. At the audio launch, Rajini had said that Kabali was more of a Ranjith film while Kaala was a Rajini-Ranjith film. Kabali was Ranjith trying to make a Rajinikanth film. Kaala is Rajinikanth starring in a Ranjith film. (more)

Source: Ashameera Aiyappan , Indian Express

An underwhelming film made for Rajinikanth, the politician

Kaala as a film that was written for a star who claims to have had no political ambitions at the time. Now that he has become a politician, it�s Rajni the superstar that we long to see. (more)

Source: VISHAL MENON, The Hindu

Rajinikanth's charisma and style elevate this socially relevant, entertaining film

The major drawback of Kaala is the length of the film - at 2 hours and 46 minutes, there is nothing new in the story. Kaala is an out-and-out Rajinikanth film and he is one of the biggest reasons to go watch it. (more)

Source: Sreedhar Pillai, Firstpost.com

Rajinikanth takes backseat, Pa Ranjith drives the revolution

Kaala works really well as a film and as a Rajinikanth vehicle; it would be wise to leave the politician outside the theatres though. (more)

Source: priyanka Sundar, Hindustan Times

Kaala is out and out a director's film with a strong political core. Rajinikanth, in a toned-down avatar, is a bonus

Hardcore Rajini fans might find Kaala a tad on the dull side. But the nearly three-hour film has the potential to grow on those that have the patience to try and get their heads around its many audacious departures from norm. (more)

Source: Saibal Chatterjee , NDTV Movies

The second Rajini-Ranjith outing is better than 'Kabali', but still an odd fit for both

The Rajini-isms from his past (the Oho kick-u yerudhe song and dance from Padayappa, the two-heroine scenario from films like Veera) are refitted around a character with grandchildren, and even the fanfare behind the S-U-P-E-R S-T-A-R letter formation at the beginning is replaced with the siren we heard throughout Kabali, though in a much muted form. (more)

Source: BARADWAJ RANGAN, Filmcompanion.in

Source: Maran, TamilTalkies

Rajini movie you've been waiting for a decade

Director Pa Ranjith, who brings back memories of his film Madras, sets clear demarcations for the hero and anti-hero in this one. There is a scene when Kaala meets Haribhau at his home and jokingly asks, 'Kaisa naam hai re Kaala?' and then tells him how ugly he looks in his all-black avatar. (more)

Source: Divya Nair, Rediff.com

Revolution for survival

Rajinikanth is fierce as Kaala and plays his role according to his age. The usual Rajini swag is in full flow and no unnecessary heroism has been created as Rajini looks and plays his age gracefully. Rajini's performance in all his confrontation scenes with Nana Patekar is top class. Whenever they confront each other, things look quite gripping and interesting. (more)

Source: 123 Telugu team, 123telugu.com

Director Ranjith establishes black as the new white as he unveils the 'actor' in super-star Rajinikanth

Symbolism finds a whole new meaning in Ranjith's Kaala. The director has used mythology and colors to question our twisted concepts of the truth and evil, the good and the bad and the black and the white. Rajini's all-black look is off-setted with Nana's pristine, spotless, crisp white kurta-pyjama everytime the adversities cross paths. (more)

Source: Editor, DNA

There's not enough Rajini magic

Though the film makes him fight several long battles, it doesn't give him any weapons because Rajini Sir is a weapon unto himself. He fights goons with an umbrella, and when he punches one man, the force of that punch turns that man into a missile who destroys his own three men. I just wish that Ranjith had given some real scenes with dialogue to Rajini Sir. Then his film too would have been like an unstoppable missile. It's possible, I tell you. (more)

Source: SUPARNA SHARMA, Deccan Chronicle

Kaala Review

Kaala is Ranjith's social responsibility delivered with Rajini's macho fire power. The tale of rights, the story of suppressed standing tall against odds and power. Go watch it for entertainment with responsibility. (more)

Source: IndiaGlitz , IndiaGlitz.com

Gets interesting towards the end

The climax sequence especially will remain in the minds even after having walked out of the cinemas. The cinematography has been complimented extremely well for the most part on the editing table by Sreekar Prasad. It is only in the fight sequences that we tend to notice certain imbalances in his cuts and the same can be said about the VFX which is good, but could have been better. (more)

Source: Galatta Review Panel, galatta.com

Pa Ranjith is the star of Rajinikanth's gangster film

Pa Ranjith keeps talking of ideologies. Kaala seems to be the personification of his ideas. The dialogue "Ellarum Kaala thaan (Everyone is Kaala)," which comes at the tail end of the film, sums up the entire film. And it takes some serious guts to make an ambiguous and abstract climax like this one in a Rajinikanth film. (more)

Source: Kirubhakar Purushothaman, India Today

The Actor in this layered Pa Ranjith revolution

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Kaala Movie Review & Rating

Kaala Movie Review

Superstar Rajinikanth’s Kaala has finally released and this is Rajini’s second movie with Pa. Ranjith. After Kabali, it took nearly 2 years for a Rajini film and Kaala had a very less hype surrounding it. The review of kaala from overseas was positive and now let us see the detailed movie review of Kaala.

The movie revolves around how a Gangster basically the King of Dharavi fights against the Politicians and land mafia to safeguard their land and rights.

Ranjith has worked on what was criticized during Kabali release.. there are many mass moments for Rajini fans to enjoy. Meanwhile, Ranjith stays firm in his way of storytelling and as usual, he speaks about the oppressed.

The first half had some mass moments but the second half had major dialogue portions. The second half may feel little draggy.

The performance of all actors was too good. Nana Patekar proves to be one of the greatest villains for Rajini all time. Santhosh Narayan’s BGM is the biggest plus for the movie and elevates many scenes.

Overall its a Commercial Rajini film with a Ranjith’s view.

Verdict: If Life Gives You a Second Chance Use it Like Ranjith

Rating: 3/5 Watch Kaala Movie Public Review below – FIRST ON NET  

43 Minutes of Kaala Streamed Live online | Gets arrested

Kaala movie public review – first on net, leave a comment cancel reply.

Kaala Movie Review: Kaala Movie Review | Rajinikanth Kaala Karikaalan Tamil Movie Review - Galatta

• 19 Jun 2018
• Release Date: 07 Jun 2018

Kaala Movie Cast & Crew

Kaala is a Tamil action film written and directed by Pa. Ranjith and produced by Dhanush starring Rajinikanth in the lead role alongside Huma Qureshi as the female lead with Nana Patekar , Samuthirakani in supporting roles featuring music composed by Santhosh Narayanan. 

We are given a basic introduction of the plot of Kaala in the opening title credits itself. As the film begins to play out, the story unfolds as being primarily about the seizure and confiscation of lands of the poor by the politically powerful, rich and the influential.

Kaala kicks off showing the people of the Dharavi slums protesting against those who are trying to take away their lands to which Rajinikanth provides solutions in a steadfast manner.

Huma Qureshi as Zareena is introduced into the story and it is revealed that she and Rajinikanth were lovers 20 years back and had to be separated due to a crisis that could not be averted in the past.

Despite Kaala ’s crux being about the seizure of lands from the poor people, Nana Patekar as Hari Dada is only shown towards the intermission block.

Director Pa. Ranjith has attempted to make Kaala by laying emphasis on the rampant land seizure from the poor by the richer classes and has come up with a story that is quite good. However, it is on the screenplay front that he has faltered with the film turning out to be dragging for the most part. Had he knit it in a tight manner, the result would have been drastically different. 

Post the introduction of Huma Qureshi’s character in the first half, the pacing takes a back seat as it becomes slow and only picks up towards the interval block.

There are a few mass scenes in the first half of Kaala that will leave the fans wanting for more and are sure fire clapworthy moments.

It is a similar situation in the second half, but this time with Nana Patekar, whose character is not all well-explained and lacks motive.

It is only towards the end of the Kaala and 20 minutes before the finish that the film jump starts and the protests scenes in the film connect well with the various current crises in Tamil Nadu.

On the performance front, Kaala is carried all the way forward by Rajinikanth and the veteran actor has executed a praiseworthy performance. Be it the mass or emotional scenes, he knocks it out of the park with a refined act yet again.

Despite earning the tag of a performer in Bollywood, Huma Qureshi has carried the same momentum for Kaala and has given a subtle yet mature performance this time.

Perhaps the most underused person in the casting would be Nana Patekar as his character lacks conviction and should have been more broad and vast.

Although Samuthirakani’s character arc in Kaala isn’t convincing, his comedy hits the right notes on several occasions. He is shown to have a fondness for liquor and the reason is well explained in a flashback sequence.

Easwari Rao as Rajinikanth’s wife in Kaala is convincing to a tee as she delivers a convincing performance with her histrionics.

Manikandan, who appears as one of Rajinikanth’s four sons in the film, has one of the best defined roles and has executed a brilliant performance.

On the technical front, Murali. G’s cinematography is top-notch. The climax sequence especially will remain in the minds even after having walked out of the cinemas. The cinematography has been complimented extremely well for the most part on the editing table by Sreekar Prasad. It is only in the fight sequences that we tend to notice certain imbalances in his cuts and the same can be said about the VFX which is good, but could have been better.

Santhosh Narayanan’s songs are good to listen and the composer has experimented in the background score department, which has without a doubt paid off well.

Rajinikanth all the way

20-minute climax

Stunning art direction

Powerful dialogues

Thumbs Down

Dragging and lengthy screenplay

Nana Patekar’s character not well-defined 

Verdict: Gets interesting towards the end

Galatta Rating: ( 3.75 /5.0 )

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Kaala Movie Review

Rajinikanth is laying down the planned trajectory of his long anticipated entry into politics by combining regional considerations with a broader national agenda

‘Kaala’ combines the politics of land and the illusionary politics of an actor to give you a movie that ends up bi-polar. Tamil identity outside the state has been the subject of Rajnikanth’s last two films, both directed by Pa. Ranjith. The 2016 ‘Kabali’ was about the trials of Tamil speaking people in Malaysia, and this movie is about Tamils living in Dharavi, Mumbai.

All wars have been fought about land, says the film, and the cultural identity of a people evolves from the soil. But when, through the process of migration, it is transplanted elsewhere, this identity needs special protection from a saviour who is able to bridge the gap between the old culture and the new and adjust to evolving political equations in an alien land. The protector of the Tamil people in this movie is Karikaalan, better known as Kaala (Rajinikanth). His principal antagonist is a Maharashtrian politician called Haridev Abhyankar (Nana Patekar). This Mumbai heavyweight, whose posters are plastered all over the city, wants to evacuate the Tamils from the prime real estate land of Dharavi. He has the Police and the Builders lobby behind him.

The entire narrative of the film revolves around a detailed charting of this collision course. But Kaala never actually engages in a physical contest with Haridev. The tension between the two is colour coded. Throughout, Kaala is dressed in a black ‘vesti’ and shirt. Even on the one occasion when he wears a safari suit for a party, it is black. Haridev, on the other hand, is in a spotless white ‘kurta’ right through. He asks Kaala why his name is ‘Kaala’ (black in Marathi), and why he is so dark skinned. The superstar’s reply is that the Tamil word for black is ‘karuppu’, and that ‘kaala’ refers to the God of death, ‘Yama’. In other words, Haridev had better watch out for his destructive powers, once they are unleashed.

It appears that Rajinikanth’s political stand, his manifesto as it were on every aspect of regional and national politics, is articulated in this movie. The invocation of the name of ‘Ram’ during a ‘Puja’ scene in which Haridev participates, is deliberately intercut with the most horrific violence initiated by the same politician. This is obviously the actor’s statement on the misuse of religion in politics.

Meanwhile, the greedy builders who are eyeing Dharavi keep talking hypocritically about how their motivation to demolish the slums is actually based on the need to make the city and the nation clean, or ’swachh’, and not on any misplaced pecuniary aspiration.

Rajinikanth is laying down the planned trajectory of his long anticipated entry into politics by combining regional considerations with a broader national agenda. Which would all be fine for a voter.

But here we have an audience. And this expectant viewer is looking to the iconic actor for setting a high entertainment standard with his memorable gestures, one-liners and superhero stunts. None of them are on display till the very last sequence. As a matter of fact, the super-star often plays second fiddle to the villain. In a number of scenes, Nana Patekar actually steals his thunder. Shri Haridev Abhyankar’s statement that no matter what you call it – Bombay, Bambai or Mumbai – the city is his for the taking, gets huge cheers. Which begs the question – were they making this film to launch Patekar’s political career?

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Kaala movie review: Rajinikanth lends his voice to Pa Ranjith’s political viewpoint

Kaala movie review: the film works really well as one and as a rajinikanth vehicle; it would be wise to leave the politician outside the theatres though..

Kaala Cast: Rajinikanth, Easwari Rao, Huma Qureshi, Nana Patekar Director: Pa Ranjith Rating: 4/5

If I said director Pa Ranjith towers over Rajinikanth in Kaala, would you believe me? Kaala is Pa Ranjith’s political commentary that Rajinikanth has just lent his voice to. Is it a spectacular film? Not really, but it’s a spectacle all right.

Kaala Karikaalan , the don who rules Dharavi, is not the star of the story. The plot revolves around the people who live in Mumbai’s sprawling slum. These are the people who left Tamil Nadu for a better life and ended up living in world’s third largest slum, which has an annual turnover of $1 billion. These are blue collar workers who earn their living doing manual labour and are looked down upon. Taking a cause close to his heart -- Dalit oppression, the director successfully tells a relevant story, exactly what the audience expects. He also understands that he is borrowing Rajinikanth’s voice to tell his story and he will have to honour the strings that come attached with it.

“Kya Re Setting ah,” is a nod to the sharp dialogues that are hallmark of Rajinikanth. The superstar entering a protest in slow motion is Pa Ranjith’s response to fans who believed the superstar was not shown as one in Kabali. In Kaala, Pa Ranjith has ensured Rajinikanth gets the complete superstar treatment and it stands out because it’s something we have never seen the director do before.

What we have seen Pa Ranjith deliver before are films that are truly layered and keeping with that practice, Kaala is various shades of black. Kaala is a film relevant to our times and the director is making sure you understand all of it. For instance, the first time that Hari Dada ( Nana Patekar ) faces Rajinikanth, he is offered a glass of water by Kaala’s wife Selvi and he doesn’t accept it. In many places it is still a practice to not eat or drink anything offered by those who are seen as lower castes. While earlier he left it to the audience to understand the references, the director weaves it into dialogues to make sure you don’t miss it.

The Raavanan’s tale is a beautiful maze of references weaved together and when it hits a peak, it is an entertaining film and social commentary all rolled into one. With Kaala, Pa Ranjith questions the status quo in a way we have rarely seen before; perhaps Mani Ratnam in his film Raavanan.

By referring to Kaala as Raavanan, a man who thinks with 10 brains, Pa Ranjith builds on the allegory early on. Soon, we realise it is more than a passing reference – it is one of the highlights of the film. As each head of Raavan is cut off during the narration of Ramayan in the backdrop, we see Kaala’s fight build up in stages of loss, sacrifice and finally victory.

In Kaala though, the godly references don’t stop with Raavan though, who incidentally was also painted black in all pictorial references. Pa Ranjith also references Kaala Karikaalan -- the god who guards villages and is offered non vegetarian food and alcohol. Kaala being offered a local toddy during a festive occasion draws on this practice. Kaala beginning his protest from what are the remains of a blown-up temple, the director focussing on an immersed idol of lord Ganesha, Kaala’s son being named Lenin, his father called Vengaiyan – they are all details that ensure the story is rooted and may not translate too well ina different language. Even the south Tamil Nadu accent in the film has been placed there for a reason. The people may have come to a foreign land for livelihood, but the place will always be a part of them. Especially when Easwari Rao as Selvi speaks, she reminds Kaala’s family of home because she remains unchanged even in Mumbai.

Can you imbibe this complexity, forcefully comment on a pertinent issue and still produce a commercial film? Pa Ranjith answers this question with Kaala. His dialogues ring out aloud in the theatre. For instance, when Kaala says, “Black is the colour of labour,” it does strike a chord. When he questions why there should be a government if all they can do it is deliver scams and loot people, he reflects people’s thoughts. When he sits there and repeatedly feigns ignorance about the importance of a man during a discussion, he shows what attitude is. Producer Dhanush had it right because there are moments when the whistles wouldn’t stop.

The good vs the bad is trope we have seen multiple times in previous films of Rajinikanth; we saw him portray shades of grey in the past too. Ranjith’s movie is mix of both and a bit of Robinhood added to it.

A powerful hero needs a powerful adversary and Nana Patekar is the man for the role. In one scene, he emerges from the dark and sees Kaala; his response is to adjust his white shirt multiple times. With this gesture, he is possibly assuring himself that he is not the same as Kaala, he is not dirty. The scene where Kaala is on the floor and Hari Dada sits on a chair stands for the class and caste distinctions.

Another relevant topic that the director takes up is women empowerment. We have conversations about women in cinema and with Puyali from Kaala who chooses to stand up straight, hit back and hit hard even after being stripped by people who are supposed to protect her, police officers, the director states that women are more than what they wear. This scene particularly makes the film almost perfect.

Speaking of the climax, Pa Ranjith does something that no director has done before and he is smart about. He treats Kaala throughout the film like a double edged sword and manages to keep a fine balance.

The music scored by Santhosh Narayanan adds a whole new layer to Kaala. There are certain scenes in the film that purely work because of his background score and the way he uses rap to indicate fight against oppression -- especially the timing of “Nikkal Nikkal” is bang on.

There are places where the film would remind you of older Rajinikanth film. For instance, “Khuda ka hukum, Kaala ka kasam (God’s orders, Kaala’s promise)” is similar to his dialogue in Arunchalam film, “Aandavan solran, Arunchalam seiran (God will say and Arunchalam will act).”

My quibbles with the film have to do with Pankaj Tripathi’s role that doesn’t do justice to the film or the actor and Huma Qureshi playing Kaala’s first love. This portion of the film feels like an extension of Kabali and Kumudhavalli, only not as good. When the two sit down to speak of the past and the future, it feels like a forced conversation and their relationship in the entire film comes across as such.

Kaala works really well as a film and as a Rajinikanth vehicle; it would be wise to leave the politician outside the theatres though.

Author tweets @Priyanka_S_MCC Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Kaala Review: All Sound And Fury, A Shot In The Dark That Misses The Mark

Kaala review: a frenzied blend of suspense, adventure and dramatic highs that never settles into a rhythm..

The murkiness of the channels of money laundering and the darkness that dwells in human souls dominate the black hole that Kaala , a Disney+Hotstar series created and directed by Bejoy Nambiar, dives into in order to explore a bitter and violent battle of attrition between a pair of wronged heroes and a clutch of deadly deviants.

Notwithstanding a handful of surprise twists, a couple of attention-grabbing characters, a few startlingly enthusiastic performances and its technical proficiency, the show does not whip up the kind of excitement, tension and mental stimulation that one would expect from a crime thriller with a complex, multiple-timelines narrative.

With the writers biting off more than they can chew and, therefore, grappling with too many wayward, untamable components, the intricacies of the plot are lost in a bewildering maze of convolutions. Kaala, as a result, is a frenzied blend of suspense, adventure and dramatic highs that never settles into a rhythm.

For all the manic momentum that Kaala attains, the eight-episode series is an incoherent blur. Its pace and densities, which should otherwise have been the strengths of the show, get the better of it and lend it a gratuitously breathless feel.

Set in Kolkata, the hills of North Bengal and areas around India's border with Bangladesh, Kaala, which is Nambiar's first shot at being a showrunner and solo director of an entire series, deals with two men from two generations who fight with their backs to the wall to clear their names.

Set up by rivals within their own organisations - the Indian Army and the Intelligence Bureau - the two victims of calumny are up against international money laundering masterminds, a motley group of New York-based individuals who do not reveal themselves until pretty late in the series.

In the course of a black op on the border in 1988, an ambush claims the lives of eleven Indian soldiers. Only one man, Major Subhendu Mukherjee (Rohan Vinod Mehra), survives. He is blamed for the deaths and branded a traitor. A lookout notice forces the army officer to go into hiding.

Thirty years on, another Mukherjee, Intelligence Bureau officer Ritwik (Avinash Tiwary, in his second web show of the week), aided by information provided to him by a mystery caller, is on the trail of a reverse hawala scam. He stumbles upon too many truths and upsets people who wield political and financial power, including a waste recycling entrepreneur Naman Arya (Taher Shabbir). Ritwik is framed in the very case that he is investigating. He takes to his heels.

Hopping back and forth between 1988 and 2018, with occasional pits stops somewhere in the mid-1990s, Kaala tells a story so tortuous and contrived that it often leaves one gasping for breath - and an air of clarity. One man goes from being a soldier to a deserter; the other from being an IB officer to a wanted felon. Fate isn't the only thing that connects the two.

The show abounds in interesting characters that you want to know much more about - nobody more so than the one that Jitin Gulati (who, too, has another web show this week) plays with phenomenal panache. The character has an arc that probably deserved a whole show but since that isn't the case - the role is riddled with holes.

The screenplay (co-written by Nambiar with Francis Thomas, Priyas Gupta, Mithila Hegde and Shubhra Swarup) is exceedingly sparing with information that could illuminate the motives and compulsions of the supporting characters. Among them is one key member of Ritwik's team who is more than a colleague, Sitara (Nivetha Pethuraj).

If the idea is to keep the audience guessing, the overly showy, elliptical sleights that Kaala banks upon are usually more befuddling than mystifying. The result is a show that seeks to deliver thrills without letting the audience know what on earth is going on.

Kaala has a female character clearly modelled on the current chief minister of Bengal. That lady is played by Mita Vashisht (it is unlikely that she has ever had role this shallow and half-baked). She isn't named but in one stray scene someone refers to her as Didi. She has a giveaway accent that reduces her to a gimmicky, single-note woman. She is also given negative shades that are never fully spelled out.

That is the fate that befalls many of the other supporting characters in an overcrowded show that seems to believe in the-more-the-merrier dictum. So, people appear and disappear and reappear randomly around Ritwik and Sitara. The former has a well-connected mother (Sreelekha Mitra) who pops up occasionally, the former is mother to a chirpy little girl who remains largely in the shadows.

The IB's tech girl (Tanika Basu), the bureau's chief Himanshu (Danish Aslam), CBI man Danish (Anil Charanjeet), Darjeeling footballer Aaloka (Elisha Mayor), a girl with links with the fugitive army man we see in protracted flashbacks, and an Indo-Bangla border dweller (Hiten Tejwani) who has revenge on his mind, get the short shrift although a few of them do have sufficient footage to be able to emerge above the din.

The show casts a Tamil actress to play an IB official from Chennai - and that is great for the sake of authenticity because she has an identifiable accent that goes with the flow of role and does not reduce her to a butt of ridicule the way a caricaturized diction does in the case of the unnamed woman politician.

Kaala makes do with non-Bengali actors for its two principal characters. The cast, however, has several supporting actors from Kolkata - they either punctuate their Hindi with a smattering of Bangla or have a stereotypical accent.

On the subject of authenticity, the worst casualty in Kaala is Rabindranath Tagore. Two of his songs, which play as part of the background score, are mauled beyond recognition. What the makers of the series forget is that Tagore's verse set to music is as much poetry as it is sound. Forget the poetry - the songs chosen have no bearing on the story - Kaala does not even get the sound right.

Avinash Tiwary (in his second web show of the week) gamely shoulders the responsibility of fleshing out the tormented yet tenacious male protagonist. Rohan Mehra plays a steady hand amid the mayhem swirling around him.

Nivetha Pethuraj is saddled with a sketchily-etched character that could have done with more substance. Elisha Mayor, playing a meatier role with a clear trajectory, has her moments but the actor to watch in Kaala is Jitin Gulati. One is left wishing that he had greater support from the script.

Kaala, all sound and fury, is a shot in the dark that misses the mark by a mile and a half.

• Cast Avinash Tiwary, Mita Vashisht, Rohan Vinod Mehra, Nivetha Pethuraj, Taher Shabbir, Hiten Tejwani
• Director Bejoy Nambiar

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‘Kaala’: Rajinikanth Shines Golden, Ranjith Writes Him Well

Pa ranjith has written rajinikanth’s character in ‘kaala’ brilliantly., rajinikanth shines golden, ranjith writes him well.

2016’s Kabali was a confused mix between Pa Ranjith’s beef Biryani and Rajinikanth’s Masala Bhaath . But with Kaala , the transition is seamless. Ranjith has written Rajini’s character brilliantly.

After Padayappa , there haven’t been any punch dialogues worth remembering. Kaala changes that, while pandering to Pa Ranjith’s overtly pro-Dalit ideology.

From The Word Machmach

Nana Patekar gets down from his white land rover in white and white. He looks around at Dharavi and its people and is unable to hide his disgust. He conveys this with barely a twitch in his eye. The scene ends with a hugely embarrassed Nana walking back after seeking permission from Kaala, who says, ‘NIKAL!’

There isn’t a single wrong note in the film until the interval that comes at 1.5hours. The punch dialogues are there. The fights are surprisingly convincing for a Ranjith film (usually not his forte), and the long lost love between Zareena (Huma) and Kaala is palpable.

What is truly surprising though, is the film’s ability to mingle all this into a politically charged narrative. The blue-white-green flags that represent Ambedkar’s Dalit movement, the books in Kaala’s room that are cornerstones of Dravidian - Dalit ideology (Ravana Kavyam), Kaala’s youngest son named Lenin...the subtext is endless. Even Huma Qureshi’s background, as a Muslim from Pathamadai (southern TN) has a deep and troubled history that most of TN will understand. And all of this, is wrapped in a beautifully choreographed Masala narrative. What’s not to like?

The World of Dharavi

Dharavi’s Tamil diaspora, the hip hop scene that’s a mixture of English, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi; the confounding yet sweet sounding linguistics of the place have all been captured in extreme detail. I’m reminded of the movie ‘Court’, which took set design to a completely different high in realism.

So, Is ‘Kaala’ Thalaiva’s Political Vehicle?

If not for Rajinikanth’s foot-in-the-mouth regarding the Sterlite protests (if we protest for everything, TN will become a crematorium, he said), the answer would have been a resounding YES. The plot was a blueprint for how to - Organise. Educate. Agitate.

The movie begins and ends with protests and combines Rajinikanth’s suspension-of-disbelief fights with what can actually bring about change. But it takes more than movies to make it in politics. MGR, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi used the medium to great effect, but did backbreaking groundwork as well. So we’ll let this be.

Samuthirakani and Co

No character in the film was expendable. As in, in the absence of even one of the characters, the plot would stall. By the end of it all, I wanted to be the son who was fed by ‘Selvi Amma’, the ‘Mama’ who stood by Kaala at all times, one among the crowd who stared you down as Kaala walked into the frame behind me.

Kaala resurrects in a riot of colour in the end. I do hope Rajinikanth’s tattered rep meets the same fate. I’d give the film 4 stars out of 5. If not for the forgettable music, it would have been a film for the ages.

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from entertainment and movie-reviews

Topics:    rajinikanth      pa ranjith      kabali  .

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Kaala (2018)

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Kaala Reviews

Complex strands need to be knit in with skill, but poor writing ensures that confusion is completely confounded here.

Full Review | Sep 18, 2023

KAALA might be a bit chaotic and messy, but somehow that almost fits the powerful and highly entertaining mass appeal that with Rajinikanth in the lead and Pa. Ranjith’s clear social touch boils into a rousing slum action drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 29, 2022

Ranjith and cinematographer Murali G. capture a locale that, both in Indian and Western cinema, has rarely been shown this lovingly. They explore its nooks, crannies, people and cultures, in what amounts to the most exciting Indian film this year.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2019

The most mystifying aspect of Kaala, in the context of a mainstream Tamil film, may be how ineffectual the deaths are...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 29, 2018

Kaala is an engaging political mass entertainer from Ranjith. He utilises Rajini's strengths efficiently, much to the relief of the superstar's fans.

Full Review | Aug 29, 2018

Not big enough to be bigger than life, but not real enough to be taken seriously outside of his filmy persona, Kaala is a middling film that doesn't seem to know which side of the fence it wants to be on.

Full Review | Jun 9, 2018

While this revolutionary epic that's largely predictable would have benefited hugely from tighter editing, the hyper-stylised climax may appease the Rajinikanth fan in you.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 8, 2018

Pa. Ranjith has chosen a world class technical team to make his dream project come to light.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 8, 2018

The incendiary climax is superbly orchestrated, but the movie is too high-minded and heavy-handed to engage the viewer as pure fiction.

Full Review | Jun 8, 2018

Now that he has become a politician, it's Rajni the superstar that we long to see.

Kaala is an out-and-out Rajinikanth film and he is one of the biggest reasons to go watch it.

Pa Ranjith does something that no director has done before and he is smart about. He treats Kaala throughout the film like a double edged sword and manages to keep a fine balance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2018

A high-voltage action-packed film with a strong political core, Kaala unleashes Rajinikanth in the garb of a 'real' character, instead of the unstoppable comic-strip superman that he has usually played.

The 1.5 stars for this movie is only for Nana Patekar's effort. For the rest of the movie, we recommend loads of popcorn to keep you distracted, or a black eye mask so that you can nod off.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jun 8, 2018

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