First things first. Kasada Tabara is certainly a better experience than most anthologies from Tamil cinema. But that is also an unfair comparison because there are two distinct differences between this film and most anthologies. This is a film made by a single director (like Sillu Karuppati). This is a film where the individual short films are connected to each other and as a whole Kasada Tabara can also be seen as a single feature film. The links are not mere nods or namesake references but the there is a direct interaction between the characters of the different shorts.

Kasada Tabara is an interesting attempt. This is something that you can say about any Chimbu Devan film. The end results might have mixed reactions but there is always something novel about each of his films. Unlike most anthologies, Kasada Tabara hasn't explicitly stated any common emotion or thread that binds the individual shorts but I think betrayal is the core that Chimbu Devan was going for. There is a twist in each short and almost every single twist exposes a betrayal.

Kasada Tabara remains interesting because there is an urgency right through. Every single short moves at a brisk pace. Sometimes the pace even stands in the way of registering crucial plot points. This was sort of an issue for me in the parts featuring Harish Kalyan and Sundeep Kishan. A lot is narrated through voicovers and we have twists after twists. I am not sure if it had to do with the device in which I was watching but the dialogues weren't clear and getting drowned in the music. This was a real turn off. Some of the twists work more like shocks but the emotional payoff is limited. This has got to do more with the format as you do not really have time to get invested with the characters. After a point, the novelty sort of wears off and with too much happening within short spans, you sort of get distanced with what is happening on screen. But as said before, this pace also ensures that we are never bored.

The film has got some interesting performances. Venkat Prabhu in particular, shines in that final segment. Premji and Vijayalakshmi too are good in their parts.

Bottomline

Chimbu Devan adds another novel attempt to his repertoire. Kasada Tabara has interesting moments right through. The engagement quotient is inconsistent and the novelty does wear off during the later half.But the pace of the film ensures that boredom never sets in.

Rating: 2.75/5