‘Kaappaan’ wants to be everything to everyone, and that’s not a problem, but the writing is so clumsy that you don’t feel for anyone and you don’t care about anything.
Spoilers ahead…
You can read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/tamil-review/kaappaan-review-kv-anand-suriya-arya-mohanlal-harris-jayaraj-baradwaj-rangan/
I‘ve decided to become a director. Here’s the idea. The protagonist is a videogame designer in Mumbai — maybe I’ll cast someone like Dulquer Salmaan, given that he’s now in The Zoya Factor and a pan-Indian star. So this guy, let’s call him Aadhi, falls for a free-spirited woman, a budding architect named Tara. Neither of them believes in marriage, so they decide to just live together. But before that, one romantic evening, Aadhi follows Tara to her hostel room, and there’s a great AR Rahman song playing, and they are in the mood for lovemaking, and she notices something wriggling in Aadhi’s pants… No, not that, you perverts. He’s got earthworms in his pockets. For he’s a part-time organic farmer, too. Otherwise, how will he deliver lectures about organic farming, and if he doesn’t, how will this be a “mass” movie?
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
rmahalik
September 20, 2019
BR, movie so bad? So much frustration in the last line.
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Kay
September 20, 2019
That was savage. உங்களயும் பொங்க வெச்சுட்டாங்களே BR!!
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Meghnath
September 20, 2019
On the one hand you have ‘Oththa Seruppu’ which is trying its best to push the boundaries of mainstream tamil cinema and on the other hand we have people like KV Anand and Shankar dishing out the same dross film after film with random songs and horrible dispensable love angles. And what’s worse, films like Kaappaan make money while Othatha Seruppu is JUST critically acclaimed.
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bart
September 20, 2019
That last line was a killer (Kaapaan ragasiyatha Oopen pannitinga… ;p )
KV Anand needs a non-pulp material (or a different writer). Surya needs to fully get out of this maassu movie urges (Maasufeelia)…
Kaappaan paathavanga Otha Seruppaleye adichukanum pola..
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MANK
September 20, 2019
K. V. Anand should have remained a cinematographer. His movies as director are all wretched. On the other hand, his work as a photographer in a film like thenmavin kombathu – his debut-mesmerizes even after 25 years
BTW what is Lalettan doing starring in these idiotic roles in non Malayalam films like Jilla, Janatha garage and this one. Mammookka , at least, gets roles like peranbu and yathra.
And if you had to lift from Frederick Forsyth, do it like the way it was done in the Malayalam film August 1 , which was a terrific adaptation of The Day of the Jackal, with Sukumaran playing the Chief Minister and Mammootty playing the protector
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Senthil S
September 20, 2019
How is Mohanlal? Saw a lot reviews that said that the interval block was unlikely to be well received in Kerala. Friends were angry that Mohanlal had taken up this role.
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meera
September 20, 2019
Oh it was so bad!!! Finally mass movies have reached new levels of crapism…
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Cholan Raje
September 21, 2019
“Compare the bomb-going-off scene here to the one in Petta, and you’ll see how a real filmmaker can manufacture real drama out of these same ingredients.”
Oof. The “real filmmaker” implication in that sentence is probably the biggest verbal blow KV Anand will ever get from anything on the Internet.
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Ravi K
September 21, 2019
Bart wrote: “KV Anand needs a non-pulp material (or a different writer)”
Or maybe he needs to lean into the pulp aspect, and not be so self-serious.
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therag
September 21, 2019
Do you really think the likes of Mohanlal and Surya don’t know that a script is super bad? Nah. Me thinks there must be some other reason behind these films other than the usual ABC center crap. K.V Anand may think his shit smells sweeter than the rest but I’d give the likes of Surya,Lal more credit.
Maybe its the usual “I trust in the director and say yes without a full bound script”? After Jilla, lal probably not. After Maatraan, Surya absolutely not.
Maybe they actually plan on it losing money so that they can white-wash black money? The old Howard Roark plan? I think most of Tamil film financing is just black money excepting a few production houses, and the Box Office collections are very opaque so you can put in any figure.
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pagli
September 21, 2019
looks like the “message movie” bug has bitten regional cinema also, I feel so sad, there was a a time when we used to go to cinema for Fun and pleasure of watching a story unfold on screen or just watching a pure action movie. I watched MI 6 3 times in theatre because Tom cruise didn’t look down on me and lecture me about some burning issue concerning the humanity but now we’ve to listen to lectures from these highly paid and cream of india
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Srinivas R
September 21, 2019
@pagli – Tamil cinema has been doing message movies for a while now. someone should tell these hacks, messages are for WhatsApp not movies.
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Isai
September 21, 2019
“Why do our filmmakers find it so difficult to make a basic, entertaining movie? Why do they (and our stars) want to give lectures and messages in the middle of action movies?”
It is not the filmmakers who want to give these lectures (of course such film makers do exist but most of them don’t get to work with our stars), it is the stars who push the ‘commercially viable’ directors to include these so that they become more likeable to the public. This is very important because a star’s market value is based on his opening which is dependent on TWO things, one is his previous hits and the second and perhaps more important thing is how likeable he is to the masses who would come to the theatres FOR HIM even if the movie is quite underwhelming. Nurturing this constituency is very important for anyone planning to have a long career as a star because you cannot always perfectly judge a script but you can ensure that such crowd pleasing elements are included in the movie so that even if the movie ends up as a dud, your likeability doesn’t diminish.
Gautham Menon says this clearly from 31:16 to 32:27 and 14:30 to 15:05 in the below FC interview:
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Honest Raj
September 21, 2019
KV Anand seems to have a fetish for including forced comedies, which are usually centered around sexualising middle-aged women/young children, “aunty” (and body) shaming women, in his films. He’s been doing it (and getting away with it) ever since his Kana Kanden days.
The action films of the 90s (or even the 80s) are far better—Captain Prabhakaran, Suriyan, Vedan, Jai Hind, et al. I’d squarely blame Shankar and ARM for setting this trend. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this little-known film called Devan, directed Arun Pandian. A BO dud, it was among the earliest action films in Tamil to adopt this formula. Suriya’s role sounds in Kaappaan sounds somewhat similar to Captain’s in Devan—the latter’s was merely a “guest appearance” though. 🙂 A respectable CID officer who has a special bonding with the PM, he also helps the Arun Pandian character—the “real” hero of the film—avenge his sister’s death, uncovers the mystery behind the black marketing of food grains and highlights the plight of the poor who are in turn affected by it. Despite all this, the movie was far better, IMO, than the crap churned out by ARM and KV Anand. Why? Because the film was nowhere close to a Kaththi, where in a matter of few scenes after the one which features the suicide of farmers, the audience are force-fed with a “Selfie Pulla”.
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krishikari
September 21, 2019
As an organic farmer and a film lover I love the angry lashing out in this review! I’m now never going to explain ‘whatever it is we do with worms’ to random unsuspecting audiences! There is now a sprinkling of organic farming in movies and though I’m happy about this mainstreaming, if it’s shoehorned into a terrible script it doesn’t do our noble cause any favours 😉 Someone should do a compilation of these films… my favourite film do gooder farmer is still Nivin Pauly in Om Shanti Oshana. If the trilogy novels of Perumal Murugan were made into films, they would be awesome, they have an incredibly detailed account of pre-modern farming techniques in TN villages.
I also wonder why Indian audiences love to be preached at. I’m thinking specifically about the kind of films my mother and aunts like; the more unsubtle the message the happier they are.
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hattorihanzo4784
September 21, 2019
didn’t suresh Gopi play the role of bodyguard to PM/CM/Judges etc.. like in a dozen movies?
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MANK
September 21, 2019
Agree with Honest Raj there. Saw pulan visaranai again after a long time, and was still riveted by it. Both the technique and storytelling was brilliant and precise. R k. Selvamani was such a great director of mass action pictures. The mid 80s to mid 90s was a great time for masala action movies in Tamil. Captain, at that time, used to indulge in rhetoric, but it still worked within the context of the film. It was later that it became intolerable. Before Devan, there was a film called Thayagam, in which captain played a Fisherman , who starts out fighting for the rights of his fellow men. Then he goes on a mission to save the heroine’s father kidnapped by Kashmiri terrorist Mansoor Ali Khan ( with a prosthetic nose) . He is parachuted behind enemy lines- so to speak – and ends up destroying Khan and his gang. In Between captain lectures Khan on almost every ethnic\seperatist issue in the world. Btw Arun pandyan – who was also the director of Devan – made a guest appearance in that film. That again is many times more entertaining than any of today’s films.
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MANK
September 21, 2019
Gentleman was something new for it’s time. It was a superbly scripted and directed film. The mixing of the commercial , with the social and political worked really well. I love watching that film even today and remains my favorite Shankar film, though I have always found the comedy track – as in all the Shankar Films- to be crass and intolerable. But by the time he got to Anniyan, the formula had run it’s course. Worse, every other film maker in town had started imitating him.; Not just in Tamil, but in every south Indian language.
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pagli
September 21, 2019
Srinivas R – well, i’ve only seen maniratnam movies/vada chennai/Jigarthanda and few other gangster movies, I didn’t get any life lessons from them(thankfully) but this trend of message movies in bollywood, IMHO, started from mega success of Raju Hirani brand of cinema.
Having grown up during 90s , i never thought i would say this but i miss 90s and mid 2000s bollywood, those mad govinda/dhawan comedies, YRF/Dharma fantasy world where no one gave a damn up people’s issues, Rajkumar Santoshi’s macho heroes and most of all , RGV’s immorality. My biggest fear is not my impending mortality but that one day, RGV will return with a message movie (hopefully, it won’t be atleast about organic farming)
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Tina
September 21, 2019
Super!! Appdiye Oru #askbr parcel!! 😜
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neabs
September 21, 2019
This is just so so perfect. After watching the movie I was wondering what is the connection between organic farming and the story ?? Ofcourse there is any isn’t any particular story for the movie. It’s just a collection of recent events we read in newspaper for the past years.
Ofcourse one should expect nothing from this kind of commercial movie but it gets worse when you can predict what happens next.
The climax scene was much similar to a frequently referred lines of comedy scene (anda kozhandaye naan dan sir).
By the way I would like to know how many stars who lecture about farming and its importance do come forward to quit their job and start agriculture practice. 🤔🤔
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neabs
September 21, 2019
k v Anand heroine’s are so badly portrayed , they are shown as educated, employed but act so brainless.
The most disheartening to see is the role they play and behaviour they exhibit in peak of contradiction.
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Isai
September 21, 2019
“Saw a lot reviews that said that the interval block was unlikely to be well received in Kerala.”
When I read about the interval block twist, I was like “Apparom edhukku da padathukku Kaappaan’nu paer vetchinga?”
The story that I had in mind after seeing the trailer was that while the PM is being hated by many enemies, it is his son who actually dares to try and kill him and become PM and to put the blame on SPG officer Surya since both are in love with Sayeesha. The climax twist could be that while the son tried, it was actually a foreign agency like CIA that facilitated it and collected evidence for the son’s involvement so that he can be blackmailed once he becomes the PM. Boman Irani’s dialogue during the climax shows that a similar storyline was considered by the writers. If they had followed that storyline, this would have been a far better movie. I think the farming angle was force fitted in the narrative only due to Surya’s ‘influence’. Why else would Selva and Anand, who had never shown farmers in any of their previous films, project their hero as a farmer?
Anand doesn’t seem to be familiar with village life. I met a 70+yr old uneducated village lady from near Thanjavur a week after Pongal. She was praising Viswasam and saying how Vaetti is the pride of her village culture. In this movie, I don’t remember seeing Surya wear the vaetti anywhere, despite being a farmer. Even in the opening song shot in a village, he is wearing a lungi similar to what he wore in Ayan. Due to these reasons, I think this movie is going to flop in the B & C centres too, unless Namma Veetu Thollai turns out to be even worser than this movie.
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Kay
September 22, 2019
Isai – For the first time seeing a prejudiced comment from you. Namma veetu thollai. 😂
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harish ram
September 22, 2019
Can trust BR to shoehorn a Karthick Subaraj reference in somehow.
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Isai
September 22, 2019
Kay, that was a reference to the title and not the hero. I am glad that you found it funny. After all, ‘Our Family Trouble(s)’ seems to be an apt title for both this movie and KadaiKutty Singam (KKS) .
I instinctively feel bad about this movie because its trailer looks like a 2nd decoction coffee with KKS being its first decoction. This movie is by Pandiaraj after his blockbuster KKS which I liked/didn’t mind and it has 2 solid performers in Aishwarya Rajesh and Bharathi Raja. Yet, I feel much better about 2 flop old Vijay Chander’s Sangatamizhan than this movie.
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krishikari
September 22, 2019
@neabs “By the way I would like to know how many stars who lecture about farming and its importance do come forward to quit their job and start agriculture practice.”
Is that necessary? Their job is to act well and pick good stories to perform, and the writers and directors can include messages about anything they are interested in including organic farming! If they want to support they can buy the food produced by those small farmers who use environmentally sound practices. We dont ask farmers (or any other member of the public) to quit their jobs and start making films if they have anything to say about them.
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neabs
September 22, 2019
@krishikari that question Just came out of frustation of seeing so many stars just lecturing about farming and agriculture.
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ksvar
September 22, 2019
28 vs. 3
Number of comments for Kaapaan and Oththa Serupu (as of Sep 22, 2019).. Regardless of how bad a star vehicle is or how good a indie movie is, this huge disparity in crowd pull, be it in Rohini theatre or Rangan press, is the reality..
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Isai
September 23, 2019
“Can trust BR to shoehorn a Karthick Subaraj reference in somehow.”
I don’t get why some people get pissed off seeing BR praise KS. Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, I can understand. But why KS?
When I started following this blog a few years ago, I didn’t get why some people including BR were praising Mani Ratnam and KS. With time and exposure, I have realized that unlike BR, I prefer content over form and a storyteller over a filmmaker. That is why I would be more appreciative of Bhagyaraj, Vasu, Ravikumar and Hari than say someone like BR. Likewise, shouldn’t BR have the right to be more appreciative of directors like MR and KS who seem to be good at his preferred style of movie making? Don’t we all have our own preferences?
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MANK
September 23, 2019
You look very very angry in your video review Brangan. It’s just pouring out in every word you utter and your body language is more hostile than usual. I wonder whether there has been any reactions to your scathing review from the industry.
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suganthi
September 23, 2019
“Compare the bomb-going-off scene here to the one in Petta, and you’ll see how a real filmmaker can manufacture real drama out of these same ingredients.” this looks like a personal dig and not movie review
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shaviswa
September 23, 2019
Brutal review by BR. 🙂 – man I love it when you dissect movies like this.
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Srinivas R
September 23, 2019
@MANK – Few social media handles have been fuming about “biased” reviews for Comali and Kaapaan. Kapaan has got unfavorable reviews from everywhere. Director Vignesh Sivan put out a post saying good things about the movie and dissing reviews. All this is not specific to BR, I guess.
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Honest Raj
September 23, 2019
I don’t get why some people get pissed off seeing BR praise KS. Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, I can understand. But why KS?
Perhaps, there are several reasons (apart from the obvious one) for people to get “pissed off” over his praise for MR/KH.
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Akhilan
September 23, 2019
Right, so Suriya’s an organic farmer in this movie as well…
Really thought he’d turned a corner after 24, but guess not… (Sigh)
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