Kasaba Malayalam Movie
Nithin Renji Panicker's directorial debut 'Kasaba' has Mammootty playing Rajan Zacharia, a rogue cop with a hyper active libido. Rajan gets posted to a village that lies on the border of the states of Kerala and Karnataka, and gets all set to look into a blast that had left quite a few corpses liying all around. His investigation leads him onto a brothel run by the massively powerful Kamla (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) and her clandestine politician lover Nambiar (Sampath).
That 'Kasaba' has neither a credible story line to its credit nor something called plot development might be ignored. And this is when you willingly let yourself be coerced into the belief that this is a film for the masses, though I seriously doubt the masses would take too kindly to this lack of intelligence that is attributed to them time and again, every time a film that questions the basic notions of common sense is released.
Obscenity is too relative a term, and what might appear objectionable to me might not seem offensive to you or for someone else for that matter. There are dialogues galore in 'Kasaba' that sound way below the belt, and as much as I take it that it's the way a rascal police officer at his worst might speak, it doesn't comfort me that it's none other than Mammootty who is mouthing these obscene lines.
Unfortunately for us (and not for him), there is an off screen image that this great actor has to live up to, and none of the scenes in 'Kasaba' gel with the actor that we love and are all too familiar with.
There are also allusions to the protagonist's virility, and even fawning suggestions not just about his prowess in bed, but also regarding his endowment. All this and perhaps more should be taken in a blithe spirit, and even then, one does end up wondering if this isn't truly a redefined approach to machismo, where by the equations of male power undergo an unflattering change, and are restricted to matters mostly of potency.
The woman therefore becomes an object of gratification, and is placed right at the center, while the men compete with one another to acquire her. When Rajan states curtly that he has his eyes on none of the younger girls in the brothel, but on Kamla, he sends Nambiar into a defensive spasm, wherein he has to reestablish his power over her. At a lower level, Rajan also establishes his supremacy over a junior officer's wife through suggestions that he is much better a performer than her husband!
Here is a script that is way too obsessed with the star charisma of its lead actor and hence we have scenes that are specifically written with the intent of letting the character score over his screen mates. This starts off with the circle inspector bashing up another officer on the same rank, for having beat up a hooker friend of his, who in turn happens to be an unabashed admirer of his strapping sexual skills. A series of similar sequences and situations follow, and this string of events make up this film that regrettably has very little else to flaunt.
The sole reason why I could watch 'Kasaba' for its entirety is however Mammootty, and I could very well understand why an ardent fan would have goose bumps all over, watching this man in action. He is in true form here, and asserts yet again, that there are few actors around who look better in cop uniforms. There is also some extra energy that he brings in to the portrayal of Rajan Zacharia and he looms large over the entire film, relegating everyone else easily to the shade.
There is also Sampath who plays the antagonist to perfection, while Varalxmi Sarathkumar frets and frowns to get under the skin of her character that has plenty of shades of grey. Sameer Haq is the man behind the imposing camera work, while Rahul Raj's musical score has all that it needs to keep you in a trance.
Gallons of sound and fury in 'Kasaba' do not make up for the triviality that lies within. It's a labored wannabe thriller that tries to stitch up fragments of synthetic heroism onto a whole through a bright buildup and a multihued ambiance, all the while striving to blow in some life into its almost hollow self.