Kappal Review - Anything for friendship

 

Friendship is the ship that never sinks. Friends are family that you choose. In most cases, a person can be gauged by the friends circle he maintains. Though friends are understanding in many a circumstance, what if they don't want to budge at all? How far would anyone go to compromise? The story of love and friendship narrated with a funny bone, is what makes up 'Kappal'.

Story:

Five little friends take inspiration from an elderly figure to never part ways. They take the oath under the condition that they will not get married at all - for the fear that a girl might break their friendship. They grow up, and continue to follow the same principle, except Vasu, who doesn't want to give into this humbug, yet does so for the sake of friendship. At a point, he escapes to the city, on a mission to find a girl for himself. But he fails to calculate what might happen when these buddies discover his affair. What really happens, is the story of 'Kappal'.

Picture:

A serious story that is almost baseless, the film could have flopped utterly. But what patches the potholes is sense of humour. The film is two and half hours of comedy at length. Vaibhav plays Vasu and Sonam plays his love interest Deepika. Though most of the story revolves around these two alone, friction and acceleration is given by the characters played by Vasu's friends (by Karunakaran, Arjunan, Venkat and Karthik) and VTV Ganesh. Everyone not only acts as dealt, but also does their best to give the perfect finish to the comedy conceived. Thanks to Karthik, we have a riotously comic flick to chill out on.

Technicals:

Dinesh Krishnan has cranked the camera for this flick, which has come to be a bright and cheerful entertainer. Natarajan's music is unique and enjoyable, and goes in sync with the film's flow. Production design has been crafted to perfection, especially in the songs. Anthony's editing is worth mentioning, especially the earlier scenes where memories rewind.

Plusses:

Comedy, performance, music, idea, picture - there's quite a handful to be credited in the positives about the movie. It has a proper finish, no fringes and everyone acts to the script. Vaibhav has emoted to perfection in the case where he's pushed to the hinges to choose between love and friendship; with the choice being obvious, there's no drama, and this makes it an enjoyable watch. Though Sonam's language is not ethnic, her acting makes up for the gap; besides, she's beautiful! The ones who played friends are worth a round of applause for their convincing act of incorrigible behaviour. Climax is a highly impressive sequence of comedy that makes the icing of this sweet cake.

What does not impress:

Too much of anything is good for nothing. There is a lot of comedy to be covered, but the scene ends a few seconds after we cross the point of being tickled - this is persistent all through the movie. The moment is lost in most cases, due to deliberate over dosage of humour. This also renders the movie a predictable drag in many places. Adding to this is the age old concept of woman falling in love on the third date - it's passe, and cannot be readily accepted any more. Predictability spoils the interest over time. However, the movie's compulsive comedy glues you tight to the seat.

Technically perfect, but tiny little hitches and inadvertent over dosages, has made 'Kappal' ultimately a movie little above average, while it could have scored well, if only not for the stereotypes. Working exceptionally well in parts, 'Kappal' is a long string of timely comedy and is worth the time invested as it gives you hearty laughs all the way till the end.

Rating: 1.75/5 - Laughter guaranteed