Kaala Movie Review

Kaala means Black!

This is not a movie about Racism, but a movie, which speaks about the rights, that people deserves over their livelihood!

Food, Water and Shelter are the basic needs of every human being.

Plot

When someone tries to plunder these basic needs, How people should protect their land and themselves?
Kaala answers this question in an action-packed family drama!



Review
  • Actors 
Rajinikanth as Kaala
He is a gutsy don, who fights for the welfare of Dharavi residents.
He is hard against his enemies and soft with his family & his people!
His intro scene is out of box and one of the best intros of Rajini's career, totally unexpected! 
His love portions with his wife and his ex-girlfriend are cute and heart-touching ones.
Rajini's screen presence is stunning throughout the movie and he easily played with our emotions.
Superstar for a reason!

Nana Patekar as Hari Dhadha
He is a don-cum-minister, who tries to plunder the land of Dharavi residents for years.
He sports White and White outfit, round golden frame glass and an ordirnary slipper, which are enough to showcase himself as a typical spiritual Bombay don!
His slang, body language and attitude were mind blowing!
What a villain!
He can be considered as the Best Villain of Rajinikanth after Raghuvaran and Ramya Krishnan!

Eswari Rao as Selvi
She is the better-half of Kaala.
She spoke in local Tamil village slang, that is well-suited for her ethnicity.
Her cute fights with Kaala will make our hearts light.

Huma Qureshi as Zareena
She is the of ex-girlfriend of Kaala.
She enchants us and Kaala with her pleasing eyes.
She comes to her birthplace after a long gap to help Dharavi residents build their own houses.
Her role is short and she has done it without any compromises.

Samuthirakani as Vaalliyappa
He is a loyal friend of Kaala.
He stands along with Kaala in all his endeavors.
He is alcoholic, yet steadily delivers his counters, which brings instant laughs.
He is one of the best supporting actors for this movie.

Anjali Patil as Charumathi aka Puyal
She is a brave Marathi girl.
She scored in the very first scene of the movie with her astonishing act.
In one particular scene, she was harassed by some bad cops, yet, she bashed them all, before falling down.
Her role can be compared to that of 'Rani of Jhansi'.

Dileepan as Selvam and Manikandan as Lenin
They are two of the four sons of Kaala.
Selvam is the warrior of Kaala's gang and Lenin does not mingle with Kaala's gang.
Selvam is energetic, young man who does anything for Kaala.
Lenin's principle is same as Kaala, but he travels in quite different route.
Selvam is straight forward and Lenin is emotional type.
Both of them are the perfect choices to play the sons of Kaala.

Kids 
Kaala's grandchildren were very affectionate towards Kaala and the screen space, they shared with Kaala, were good to watch out. 
Zareena's daughter was cute and her hairdo & specs were nerdy.
Hari Dhadha's granddaughter was so sweet, though she comes in only scene.
Because, in that particular scene, she appeals her grandpa not to kill Kaala and she expresses that Kaala is a nice person.

Other Supporting cast
Hip-hop boys
Residents of Dharavi
Kaala's family members
Kaala's dog
Aravind Akash as Sivaji Rao Gaekwad
Sayaji Shinde
Hari Dhadha's henchmen
and reporter Ramesh Tilak supported the movie well and did justice to their roles.
  • Non-Actors
Director Pa.Ranjith 

First half - Rajini's film | Second half - Ranjith's film
Ranjith has put in a lot of efforts in bringing up this film.
His detailing and the way he pictured his idea deserves big appreciations.
He didn't commit any mistakes that he has previously done in Kabali.
Finally, Ranjith who was lost in Madras is found in Kaala!
Thank you so much for giving a pure life-based movie!
In the last 20 years, every directors did Rajini movie, but he has done his own movie starring Rajini!
Ranjith have proved himself to be one of the finest directors of the industry.

There were many similarities between Madras and Kaala, here are some...
  • The Wall - The Poster / Cut-out
  • (The ones who touched the Wall in Madras dies and in Kaala, the boy who pelted stone on the Cut-out of Hari Dhadha was killed.)
  • Johny - Vaaliyappa
  • The Hip-Hop boys
  • Enga ooru Madras'u - Semma Weight'u
  • Football commentary fight - Ram vs Raavan story fight
  • Both the movie had almost the same children's play area (park)

Two things in this movie were similar to Padayappa.
  • The first thing is the songs, "Thanga Sela" and "Kick'u eruthey", both are placed at similar situations.
  • In one particular scene, the Dharavi residents blocks Hari Dhadha from exiting the slum, the camera angle showing the Dharavi residents from top angle was similar to that of camera that captured the people, who were behind Padayappa, on the wedding venue of Abbas, from where Padayappa takes him to his daughter.
Music director Santhosh Narayanan

Like Kabali, he didn't use repeated Background score in Kaala.
He has done many experiments in BGM and it worked out well.
The tick-tock BGM at the backdrop of Conversation between Kaala and Hari Dhadha, the drizzle of Kannamma song, the electric BGM in the jail scene, Hari Dhadha's BGM and the Rain fight whistles were amazing and electrifying.
The hip-hop songs  of varied languages by Dopeadelicz (especially "Ippo enna pannalaam, sollu Kaala!") were hard hitting ones.
Thanks SaNa for bringing them into this revolutionary album.
Now, Santhosh Narayanan is ready to compose music for all big heroes of the industry.

Editor Sreekar Prasad

Though, the film runs for almost 3 hours, the audience can't experience any lags.
Each and every scene is important for the movie and happily, there were no unwanted or unnecessary sequences.
The rain fight was beautifully edited.
Overall, the editing was sharp and engaging.

Cinematographer Murali

The rain fight is enough to describe his job perfection.
He has measured the area and perimeter of Dharavi with his camera!
Good job!

Dialogue writers Pa. Ranjith, Aadhavan Dheetchanya and K. Makizhan

The dialogues were native to Dharavi and local Tamilnadu.
It added more strength to the film.
The Marathi and Hindi dialogues were written appropriately.
The subtitles were good enough to reach out the audience.
Well done, writers!

Art director Ramalingam

Undoubtedly, he is the backbone of the entire film!
The entire Dharavi slum was recreated and looks like original one!
That bridge in the Dharavi, Kaala's home, Buddha temple, open spaces, the lengthy streets, street lamps and the congested houses were the highlights of the entire slum!
The climax scene was colorful and nobody would have witnessed such an artistic climax!

Choreographers Brinda and Sandy

They supported Rajini well to dance like how he did it some years ago. 
Especially, "Thanga Sela" and "Semma Weight'u" songs were beautifully choreographed!
Thanks for adding some vintage Rajini dance moves!

Stunt director Dhilip Subbarayan 
 
The stunts were a treat to the Rajini fans.
In the rain fight, the umbrella was handled superbly by Kaala.
There were only two big fights and both of them were done well.

Visual effects and Animation 

The opening animation sequence after title card was illustrated beautifully.
And, more importantly, the flashback portion was fantastic.
The characters like Zareena, Vengaiyan and Vintage Rajini as Kaala were pictured creatively and it deserves full marks.
Hats off to the team!

Overall, Kaala is a must-watch movie for its valuable message and technical brilliance!
Not only Rajini fans, everybody would rate this movie as their favourite!
Families can enjoy the movie, as it is neither brutal nor vulgar!


Blurb: Black is not Black!!!

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