Kalvan Review - Steals Nothing But Our Time!

Ashwin Ram

Kalvan is a dramatic flick starring GV Prakash, Ivana and Bharathiraja in the lead roles. Produced by Axess Film Factory, it is directed by debutant PV Shankar.

Premise:
GV Prakash wants a posting in the forest department but doesn’t have sufficient money to pay as bribe. He decides to adopt Bharathiraja who is in a senior citizen home, plans to make-believe that the old man died naturally so that he can claim money from the Government and use it for his job.

 
Writing/ Direction:
The film begins as a flashback narrative that explains why the hero adopts an old man. It starts with a montage song establishing GV Prakash and his friend Dheena are robbers. Then again they waste so much time showing the same thing as elaborated scenes. After which there is an outdated romantic track that has been incorporated forcefully into the core subject, showing that GV Prakash’s love interest in a way leads him to the old-age home. The interval block sets the base for the second half in a promising way by revealing the actual intention of the hero behind his sudden kind behavior. The flow of the second half is comparatively focused towards the main story, but not impressive enough to make it interesting. A supposedly fun portion has been attempted between Bharathiraja and the boys which are on the lines of Manjappai, unfortunately misfires while landing. On the other hand, an intended serious part cracked up the little crowd that was present at the theatre today, as Bharathiraja hypnotized a tiger in the scene and made it run away from the people it tried to attack. Followed by a random elephant taking commands from the old man, and these lame moments are justified saying Bharathiraja was a circus man during his youth. The film continues to run for a very long time even after the crucial conclusion is done, with just a single iota of giving a big scale venture feel in the relentless climax. The valuable backstory about circus dynamics goes for waste due to bad timing. The director has contradicted his views towards animal cruelty by having no clarity in his stand, he tries to communicate a particular ideology and has presented the pole opposite one.

 
Performances:
GV Prakash suits the rural rugged boy image well through his looks, but his dialogue delivery is so fake. Not just him, Dheena, Ivana and a few supporting artists have failed to catch-hold of the nativity factor. Same with Ivana and Dheena, they both seem to be tailor-made on screen for their roles, but their characters didn’t have any fresh traits. Bharathiraja is a perfect fit, he is the central character of the flick and some of his portions had that basic sense to be at least a little likable compared to the rest.

Technicalities:
GV Prakash’s songs were pretty decent, although there is a lack in variety, it was fine listening to once. Revaa has done background score and quite a convincing job as there was not much disturbance found with music, probably the screenplay fell in deep trouble already for the other aspects to bother the viewers. Neat work by the cameraman and team, they haven’t explored anything new, but have provided what is exactly required for a rural venture with a forest backdrop. Sloppy editing by San Lokesh, his experience could have provided a hand to chop the many existing unwanted sequences which could have made it a crisper outing. The VFX team’s work on the CGI shots are poor as they have made the animal involving portions look like a big joke, the circus part is conveniently presented in the animation format.

Bottomline

An one-line that is worthy enough on the paper and has the potential to transform into a drama with touching human emotions stays on the bottom level because of the tiresome screenwriting that involves way too many dull situations.

Rating - 2/ 5