Kattalan Review

Producer, Shareef Muhammed, created a sensation with ‘Marco’ in 2024. That film collected more than a hundred crores at the box office and was also well-received on OTT by a section of the audience who enjoys action films. After the success of Marco, the producer, Shareef Muhammed, teamed with the director, Paul George, for ‘Kattalan’, an action drama. Antony Varghese, Angamaly Diaries & RDX fame, played the lead role in the film, while Telugu actor Sunil played the antagonist. After getting promoted as a PAN India film, the film was released in theatres today in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. Does ‘Kattalan’ have the potential to replicate the success of ‘Marco’? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

At Aanakolli, a remote dense forest village located on the border of Kerala and Tamilnadu, Maari(Sunil), takes control of the villagers and runs the elephant ivory smuggling cartel. He is a ruthless gangster who doesn’t hesitate to kill anyone and everyone if they intend to cause damage to his business. What happens when a rival gang(Kabir Duhan Singh and others), tries to snatch the ivory cartel from Maari? How did, Antony(Antony Varghese), become a crucial member of Maari’s cartel? How did, Antony, save the villagers from Maari’s atrocities? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Antony Varghese in the lead role has nothing else to do in the film apart from walking slowly and fighting with the rival gang members. The film hardly had one or two emotional sequences and even in those limited sequences, there’s nothing to talk about his performance. Telugu actor, Sunil, played the antagonist role well but we have seen it all in ‘Pushpa’. He got a full-length role. He did perform well and even danced well in a song but all of it just gives a deja vu feel.

Dushara Vijayan and Kabir Duhan Singh in crucial roles had nothing much to do apart from looking stylish in designer wear clothes. The cameos by the directors, Lokesh Kanagaraj & Alphonse Puthren, were wasted.

Technicalities:

Songs scored by B. Ajaneesh Loknath, Ravi Basrur & Nihal Sadiq, were forgettable. Ravi Basrur’s background score is loud and unidimensional. The only two departments that gave their best output are the Cinemarography and the Action Choreography. Renadive’s cinematography was first-rate. The visuals of the dense forests, were breathtaking and looked stunning on a screen. The action choreography by Kecha Khamphakdee and team, deserves a special mention. Shameer Muhammed’s editing was below par. Let’s discuss the work of the director and his writing team in detail in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Cinemarography
2.⁠ ⁠Action Choreography

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Lack of Emotional Depth
2.⁠ ⁠Loud Background Score
3.⁠ ⁠Lack of Original Ideas
4.⁠ ⁠Beaten To Death Screenplay

Analysis:

Why did the KGF & Pushpa series films work at the box office across the states in India? Is it because of the stylish presentation? Is it because of the playing to the gallery heroic elevation episodes? Is it because of the emotional depth of both Pushpa & Rocky Bhai’s characters? The answer is – All the above. Both those films worked because of the right packaging. Both the lead actors in those two films had a backstory which were driven by emotions. Is it possible to replicate the success of Pushpa and KGF, without strong emotions? The answer is – No. It is exactly what happened with ‘Kattalan’. Right from the start to the end, all we get to see are stylishly shot sequences one after the other without a proper emotional depth. And, the result is a monotonous film that starts to test the patience of the audience in no time after the start.

There’s a difference between being inspired and copying blindly, right? There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from a hugely successful film, but the director, Paul George, and his writing team, in the name of inspiration, copied ‘Pushpa’ blindly, to the extent that they even had Sunil play a character similar to the one he played in Pushpa. The setup, the tug-of-war between the rival cartels and the rise of a hero from a nobody to a messiah, everything in ‘Kattalan’, gives you a feeling of re-watching ‘Pushpa’, with a different set of actors. The difference is that in Pushpa, red sandalwood smuggling is the backdrop and in Kattalan, it is the Ivory smuggling.

We may have watched a lot of movies in the past which had slow-motion shots. But, if there is an award category for ‘the most number of slow motion shots in a film’, Kattalan, is likely to win the award with distinction. Almost every sequence in the film has slow-motion shots and it is one of those very few films, in which almost every character in the film has at least one slow-motion shot. It got frustrating to see people walking stylishly in slow motion throughout the film. Another huge drawback of the film is the loud and unidimensional background score by, Ravi Basrur. Right from the start to the end irrespective of the sequence, we get to hear the same techno score. The slow-motion shots along with the loud background score, tested patience after a point.

Overall, Kattalan, is a mess of a film which was poorly written and directed. Apart from the breathtaking cinematography and slick action choreography, it offers nothing. The desperation to replicate the success of ‘Pushpa’, is to be seen throughout the film. At just around two hours in runtime, the film tests the patience and it gets very difficult to sit through after a point. There was a hint of a part two with Lokesh Kanagaraj as the antagonist. All we can say to the director and his team is ‘No. Thanks. We have seen Pushpa 2 already. We don’t need a part two for Kattalan.

Bottomline – Poor Man’s ‘Pushpa’

Rating – 1.75/5

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