Kadugu Review - This mustard does more than merely pass muster!!!

Bharath Vijayakumar

Goli Soda was a quintessential mass film without a star. It was an achievement of sorts for Vijay Milton to have pulled that one off. So when he got a star on board in Vikram, one would have assumed that his task would get easier. But Pathu Endrathukkula was a slip. Some makers thrive in being low key. Vijay Milton is probably one of them. With Kadugu he once again goes back to his Goli Soda territory.

Plot:

A serious crime and an accomplice with a partial conscience.

Few minutes into the film a certain sermonizing tone is evident.But it is not very loud and once we have the central characters introduced, we get interested. Rajakumaran, Bharath, Radhika Prasidha, Bharath Seeni and director A. Venkatesh play interesting characters with well defined chracter arcs.The casting is apt and the actors look the part. We see them as characters and Bharath in particular should be credited. He is the most well known face of the lot but he too registers with us as the young rural politician with grey shades  and not as Bharath as we have known him till now.

The earlier parts of the film including the long opening shot is so typical of Vijay Milton. Filmed in candid camera style, it puts us amidst the scene of action and the screen in front of us slowly diminishes. However the lip sync goes amiss at a few places and mars the impact. Though not for the first time the animated portions narrating Radhika's flashback is cleverly employed and neatly executed.

The film raises several pertinent questions and also revolves around a serious issue.It does most things properly. The dialogues too drive home the point but at times it is on your face. This is a dicey area to actually complain about. Purely from an artistic standpoint you would hope for a little subtlety. But if the intention is more to sermonize and if there are people who would actually listen to these and change then who are we to complain? But what we can surely raise an objection to is the way some dialogues belittle a few.In a straight on comparison between porn stars and sex workers the film actually undoes some of its own good work by passing judgments directly on some individuals. It might even have a valid point to make here but by mentioning the name of an individual in a belittling tone it does more harm than good.

Much like Goli Soda it is evident that Milton wants to end Kadugu too on a happy note. But the last few minutes are rushed and the lived happily ever after is not narrated very convincingly here. 

Bottomline:

Vijay Milton regains most of his form with Kadugu – an interesting film with a very interesting core.

Rating: 3/5

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