Crossing Knives- My view on Kathi

It was a sunny morning in Ahmedabad. I and my younger brother were on the way to Acropolis Mall near Vastrapur Lake. A day earlier we decided to watch the movie ‘Kathi’ as it was the only Tamil movie screened in Ahmedabad. We got the ticket and were waiting in the lounge for an hour. My brother has always been a critic of vijay’s action movies. He argued that vijay naturally fits in the comedy genre rather than punch line uttering characters. And slowly our chat turns towards issue lingering over kathi movie. The movie producers ‘Lyca productions’ owner Subhaskaran told that this movie’s profit is his one day revenue from his other businesses. There was a tint of arrogance in his statement.  I told my brother, “If it’s not a matter of money for the business, what else he would gain from it. And if it’s the matter of service for Tamil people, he would have started the NGO”. My brother nodded my argument. And I continued; “Now we are paying Rs.360 for Lyca”. We smiled at each other and enter the theatre.

The audience strength was around 25-30; Most of them are Tamils, few Malayalis, a Tamil-Hindi couple (Initially we were bit confused by seeing Hindi speaking couple waiting to see a Tamil movie). It was an average intro and first one hour was not gripping as such. Hiphop Tamizha’s rendering was amazing and sathish’s jokes created quite few giggles.  My brother has already told me that there have been FB shares on anirudh’s copycat theme. And the funny thing is I found a copycat BGM in the scene where kathiresan(Vijay) is attacked by two white women. It’s 99.9% copy from A.R.Rahman’s Rang de Basanti theme. At last, towards the interval there had been good performance by Jeevanandam (Other Vijay). And the second half of the movie was with some purpose and whole events were sequenced only for the kathiresan’s (Vijay’s) press meet. Last 15 minutes was just an appendix because movie actually ended immediately after press meet. Murugadoss’s cameo and English delivery were funny.

Overall it’s a below average screenplay in first half and average screenplay in the second half.  The life of the movie is the core issue of corporate exploitation of natural resources. It’s a bold attempt to tell about Methane gas exploration in Cauvery delta, Packaging and selling of our own water resources, corporate loan defaulters. And the idly analogy on communism is already the talk of town.

But it’s undeniable that there are lots of conflicts in interest and authenticity of the people who given the message. According to the Murugadoss’s interview to Indiaglitz, he satisfied with production house’s answers for his questions and he doesn’t bother about the groups of people who have nothing to do with his business. If so, the corporates, against which his hero fight against have very much convincing answers than Lyca did to him. Adding to that he bluntly says movie is just a 15 days affair which people would forget after that. Then why he bothered to tell such a burning issue in the movie. Media corporates are dangerous than water sucking corporates, as movies are the medium which shapes the thought process of the society.  If Lyca’s intention is to make people of TN to think only internal problems not about the issues with Srilanka, then it’s not on the greater good of the Tamils. It’s only my speculation but it can’t be denied as per Kathi’s theme of corporate cunning attitudes.

Special mention about 2G Scam can be seen as appeasement of Jayalalitha and nothing more than else.

Already few people are questioning the moral stand of Vijay as he endorsed a cola company and endorsing a telecom company. Both are epitome of corporate structure. If the same dialogue has been uttered by Kamal, Rajni or even Vijay sethupathy might not brought criticism.Neither Vijay not Surya has that authenticity as sizable share of their income comes from the endorsements. Even Amir Khan suffered this trust deficit when he speaks in Satyavame Jayate. Incase, Vijay announce the people that he is just a mirror of director’s thought, it’s justifiable. But he seems to take the credit. And Murugadoss endorse this in ‘Coffee with DD’ interview promo that he want to see Vijay speaking the on screen dialogue off screen too.

It’s not new that cinema actors endorse, preach the principles. It’s good to the society. This is not new as it has been done by people like N.S.Krishnan-Rajam, M.R.Ratha, etc. But they lived as they preached. It becomes dubious attempt only when On-screen and Off-screen principles don’t match.

Last but not least- The fun show by Thirumavalavan and Velmurugan team. If they really felt that Lyca would be against the conscience of Tamils, they should went to people who would watch the movie at the end of the day. There is no clear justification on their opposition. It’s a very meek attempt and it brings only the frustration to everyone who follows them.

The future activities of Kathi team will give greater insight into their intentions. As of now it’s good profit for Lyca, Credit and money for Murugadoss, Rejuvenation and money for Vijay, Warning bells for Anirudh, Thalapathy Diwali for Fans, Pinch for corporates and government, Appeasement for Jayalalitha, Vengeance for DMK, Flop show for Thiru&Velu, Continued struggle for common man.