Movie: Kaasi
Rating: 1/5
Banner: Legend Cinema
Cast: Vijay Antony, Anjali, Sunaina, Amritha Aiyer, Shilpa Manjunath, JP, Madhusudhan Rao, Yogi Babu, Nasser and others others
Music: Vijay Antony
Cinematography: Richard M Nathan
Editor: Lawrence Kishore
Written and directed by: Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi
Release date: May 18, 2018
Tamil star Vijay Antony has become quite popular in Tollywood after his 'Bichchagadu' turned out to a money spinner at the box-office.
He has been releasing his Tamil movies by dubbing them in Telugu. Vijay Antony's latest Tamil film 'Kaali' has come to Telugu as ‘Kaasi’.
Let's find out its merits.
Story:
Dr. Kaasi (Vijay Antony) leads a luxurious life in USA with his rich parents but they are not his real parents. His real mother Parvathi has died long back but he doesn't know who the real father is.
He heads to Kancharlapalem in Andhra Pradesh to find out his father. He sets up a clinic in that village with the help of a local church father (JP).
He suspects two persons could be his father - a local landlord (Madhusudhan Rao) and a dacoit (Nasser). They in fact have no connection with his life. Then who is his father? How does Kaasi come to know?
Artistes’ Performances:
Vijay Antony has appeared in three different roles. He enacts three other characters as their flashbacks are revealed. The film has given him chance to appear in different getups but his performance is monotonous.
Anjali as village doctor has nothing much to do. Shilpa Manjunath has got better role as village belle and she has given best performance. Sunaiana as dalit girl is perfect.
JP, Nasser and Madhusudhan Rao are okay. Yogi Babu's comedy is typical Tamil comedy.
Technical Excellence:
Richard M Nathan's cinematography is decent. Of Vijay Antony's songs, 'Andamaa' is okay. Rest are routine. Dialogues are pretty average.
Highlights:
Some scenes in second half
Drawback:
Boring narration
No grip
Lack of exciting elements
No entertainment, no thrill
Analysis:
Vijay Antony who shot to fame with 'Bichchagadu' has the knack for selecting different stories. Even before the release of 'Bichchagadu', he came up with an interesting movie called 'Dr Salim'.
However, since the success of 'Bichchagadu', he has been offering movies that have ludicrous scripts. After two duds in the recent past, this "Kaasi" too turns out to be painfully boring.
Vijay Antony has been releasing first seven to 10 minutes of his movies instead of releasing promos to entice audiences. These real clips are like a hook. For 'Kaasi' promotion too, he did the same as he released first seven minutes of the movie.
In the first few minutes, it established that this rich NRI wants to find out his real father. Once he lands in India, the trouble begins.
He starts a clinic. Then follows outdated jokes about local village medical clinics, compounders, etc. Added to this misery, there is local village "doctor" (played by Anjali) who falls for handsome Vijay Antony.
The hero first thinks that the village landlord could be his real father and asks him to narrate his love story. As the landlord narrates his story, we get to see Vijay Antony enacting his role. So, Vijay Antony now turns a college guy who romances a girl.
Later, he meets a dacoit (played by Nasser) who narrates why he tattooed 'Parvathi' on his hand. As the dacoit narrates the story, we get to see Vijay enacting the love story between this dacoit and an already-married woman. In the end, we also get to see the enactment of his real father's younger self by Vijay Antony.
Altogether, Vijay Antony gets to play three different phases of his character. It is clear why Antony had accepted the role: to play three different characterisations in a single movie.
It might have quenched his artistic desire, but for the audiences, it is a pain to watch all these outdated stories.
From the first sub-plot to the last one, everything goes about in an outdated fashion and it is really painful to watch them.
There is barely any chemistry between Antony and Anjali. Of the many love stories in the film, only one is appealing.
Uneven screenplay and dragged scenes make the film quite boring and outdated. Except for some moments, this film ends up as a tedious watch.
Bottomline: Dreary
