Kadaseela Biriyani: No one can live without fear but what you fear is a choice

Official Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7zJwUFwoxg

Kadaseela Biriyani takes an age-old revenge story and narrates it in a unique way, it comes across as fresh, weird, and interesting. Since it breaks the cliches, it does throw us off guard frequently. Three brothers go on a journey to avenge the death of their father. Younger one is forced to join by his two brothers, he is against violence, against any killing, and all he wants is to become an engineer. First half is a revenge thriller, and the movie seamlessly switches to struggle for survival genre in the second half. When you get to see the location of the house three brothers are going after, you understand why it takes them so long to get there – really loved the top angle shot which gives a perspective of the location of the house in the dense forest, explains why it took time for the brothers to reach the house and sets the stage for second half, the struggle to escape from the maniacal son. Strength of the movie lies in screenplay, cinematography, interesting characters, and background music. The hilarious and simultaneously shocking event that does the genre switch is so wonderfully staged. While all the key actors have portrayed their characters well, silly and comic as the story demands, special mention to Hakeem Shah who sinks his teeth in to his role, he seems to relish it. Genre switch reminded me of Parasite. The purse story reminded me of the wristwatch from Pulp Fiction. Thanks to the director Nishanth Kalidindi (hard to believe this is his debut movie) for setting a new trend in narration, focusing on both form and content.

Kala: Man is not what he thinks He is, He is what he hides

Official Trailer:

At the outset Kala is a simple story, the protagonist kills a dog, and the dog owner, the antagonist (or is he the protagonist?) seeks revenge on him (reminded me of John Wick). But Kala is more than that, there is power struggle, class struggle, arrogance, and bruised ego. And then we get to see what happens if the beast inside us gets unleashed.  The mood gets set from the beginning. Even regular chores are shown in a way that gives an unsettling feeling, that something is off, things are not normal and there is danger lurking there. Slowly we see the tension within the house of Shaji, between Shaji and his dad, Shaji living under his father’s ruthless control. Kala takes time to setup the premise, to set the environment – the civilization that hides the beast to leave the house one by one, Shaji’s wife, his son and then his father. Once the action starts, Kala is one long, drawn-out, relentless slugfest between Shaji and Moor. They come across as two beasts going after each other and not two humans. Shaji’s ego doesn’t let him give up. When we see Shaji in the opening shot, topless taking a bath, he comes across as a man of power.  By the time Moor takes the fight into the house, Shaji ends up naked both literally and psychologically, leaving him exposed in front of the family, his masks all yanked out. Action sequences are choreographed very well, editing and cinematograph are top class. But the long and intense fight scenes do wear one out. The brutal bone breaking and crushing gets under our skin, by the time it ends we get the feel we have taken the blows. Goes to say this movie is not everyone’s cup of tea.