KALA MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

Kala is a psychological action thriller, written by Yadhu Pushpakaran and Rohith VS and directed by Rohith himself. The film is bankrolled by Siju Mathew and Navin Xavier under the banner Juvis Productions and has Tovino Thomas in the lead role. Sumesh Moor, Lal and Divya Pillai play crucial supporting roles among others.

Shaji is a simple man who lives with his family in a house that is built amidst a huge farm. The farm is his only source of income and he's constantly ridiculed by his dad (Lal) and his friends for making poor decisions. One day, a few workers enter his farm to work on coconut trees and end up creeping out Shaji's whole family. Once they all leave the house, citing different valid reasons, it is revealed that Shaji wanted creepy looking workers to be assigned work. Why Shaji made this decision and what happens next forms the rest of the film.

On the surface level, Kala looks like a simple revenge film. But humans like us are not just machines who think. We all have emotions inside us, and those emotions team up with logic while we make decisions. And the writers of the film respect the audience's emotions. The film makes us feel a certain way, and there's solid reasoning behind it. In short, at no place, do we feel that the makers are trying to outsmart or cheat the audience. There is no need to, for a film like this.

Tovino is solid as Shaji and looks the part as well with his well-toned body. But he is constantly outshined by Sumesh Moor, the antagonist. The film's beauty lies in the fact that as the movie progresses, we start wondering who the actual hero is. The lines between the good and the bad become blurred and by the time, we reach the climax, everything becomes subjective.

On the flip side, despite the ‘A’ certificate, the violence is a bit extreme with a lot of gore. The film definitely isn't for the weak-hearted. For a part of its runtime, the film reminds us of Jallikattu, a movie that questioned the primary difference between a man and an animal, and if we, as humans, have evolved at all. The difference with Kala is that it raises the question of who is bad among the leads when both commit similar mistakes. The film also doesn't let us emotionally invest in the relationship between Shaji and his dog because these portions look rushed. This doesn't allow us to empathise with the dog as much as we should have.

Apart from the violence, the film lags a bit until the introduction of Sumeet Moor. Barring this, there doesn't seem to be many issues, because of the top-notch technical quality. The film's background score is interesting with a lot of tribal percussion sounds and gibberish.

The sound design is extremely sharp and ends up transporting us into the film. The stunt choreography is realistic and the action scenes never go over the top. The slick editing and Akhil George's visuals go hand in hand and help us forget the flaws.

As a film, the message is on point and it is complemented by extraordinary technical work. It's a realistic portrayal of how violent humans can get and how selfish they can become. It doesn't assume that the audience are fools, nor does it make them think too much. There is high respect for the audience and for such films, the respect must be reciprocated.