Kanaka Rajyam Movie Review
Kanaka Rajyam: A Tale of Moral Struggle and Redemption
Indrans and Murali Gopy deliver poignant performances in Sagar's feel-good drama "Kanakarajyam," which explores the intertwined lives and moral dilemmas of two families facing a crisis.There is no perfect casting other than Indrans to play an innocuous character in this feel-good drama, written and directed by Sagar. The plot mainly hinges on the hapless situation of two characters but the inevitable presence of Indrans with respect to the storyline as innocent Ramanadhan complements the tale. 'Kanakarajyam' is all about the mental agony of two people in the face of a crisis and one of them is deeply haunted by his guilty consciousness. The tale has limited resources to be pigeonholed as eventful; still there is a neat and sincere presentation from the part of the director.
Murali Gopy plays Venu, who is mired in an intense debt crisis after his hotel business in Chennai bites the dust miserably. The cash-strapped life of Venu sets the harbinger of the conflict of the film in which Sagar has maintained consistency in narration by sustaining the proceedings from becoming hammy. Within the simple plot and its restricted premise, 'Kanakarajyam' focuses on upholding values of virtue and self-esteem. Apart from creating this optimistic realm, the movie's plot hardly burgeons from its fledgling state and apparently, embraces a complacency mode.
Ramanadhan, a security guard in a jewellery shop at Kottarakkara, is an amiable person as well as a dedicated employee. The owner of the shop (Kottayam Ramesh) and the staff are very cordial to him due to his sincerity in job. But one night, a burglary takes place in the jewellery shop and Ramanadhan faces the music of it. After being expelled from the job, Ramanadhan is determined to regain his self-esteem. Meanwhile, the wobbling life of Venu is a vital part in the film and his wife Devu, played by Leona Lishoy, tries to steady the family by doing stitching jobs. Venu's pathetic situation is such that he can't even afford to buy four biriyanis for the family and his friend Thothi (Rajesh Sharma), an autorickshaw driver, quite often chips in with financial aid. The conflict in 'Kanakarajyam' mainly affects two families as Ramanadhan's wife (Jolly Chirayath) and daughter (Athira Patel) also feel the pain of the conflict.
While Murali Gopy springs in surprise as a helpless family man by rightly exuding the emotions of the character, the character of Indrans is tailor-made for him. It is a mature appearance from Leona Lishoy as a disappointed housewife. Rajesh Sharma is effective in absorbing the traits of a cunning character though he is trying pretty hard in certain scenes to be realistic in performance.
The path of 'Kanakarajyam' is straight with a committed approach to uphold moral values and that could be its stringent limitation of it as a film when one tries to unravel the layers of the theme. It aims at the purgation of souls but the impact is mediocre as the screenplay struggles hard to ensure effortless flow of proceedings after a certain stage. Indeed, Indrans excels in this simple feel-good drama with a didactic message dunked in a virtuous theme. It neatly explores the mental agony of two characters involved in a same incident regardless of an uneventful plot.
