Kazhugu Review

Mar 17, 2012
Review by : AK Content Team

Starring : Krishna, Sekhar, Bindu Madhavi, Karunas, Thambi Ramaiah, Praveen
Direction : Sathyasiva
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production : K. K. Sekhar, K. S. Madhubala

For the rest of the world death and dead bodies are depressing matters that evoke deep concerns and raises many questions. However, for Kazhugu’s Sera it’s an everyday event. In fact it’s his job. If someone throws themselves off a cliff, he gets a job. Kazhugu is about Sera’s life and how death in other people’s lives affects him.

It’s an interesting premise, all right and the trick is presenting it visceral with no room for melodrama, lest you run the risk of not being taken seriously. Sadly, other than that interesting premise, Kazhugu leaves little scope for anything else and is drenched in the aforementioned melodrama that proves dampener.

Krishna, Karunas and Thambi Ramiah belong to the gang that retrieves dead bodies of suicide victims who jump off the cliff in Kodaikanal. Their lives revolve around these bodies and their everyday banter but when Krishna retrieves Bindu Madhavai’s sister’s dead body from the ravine, she falls for him. Does this change anything in his life? That forms the movies backdrop.

Before we get into anything, it needs to be mentioned that Bindu Madhavi looks appealing and pleasantly pretty. She pulls it off in many a scene but owing to lack of precious acting skills could not rise above the mark in the rest. For instance, she is beautiful when she throws sideway glances at Krishna and when she pines for him; you tend to feel for her. But otherwise, she seriously is in dire need of some acting lessons. If she fixes her acting abilities, there are possibilities that Tamil gets a good looking and talented lead woman.

Kazhugu rests on the strength of its story. Despite the presence of a solid story that is unique and has never been touched before in Tamil, the movie falters majorly. Attribute it to the lack of focus on script and an overdose of melodrama. Kazhugu’s characters are laughably theatrical and its scenes are devised in such a way to squeeze some tears out of you. And for that reason, you tend not to care much for the movie’s characters even though they are from a life-threatening background.

Yuvan’s rerecording and his music are the major pluses of the movie. His background score ebbs and flows while two songs stay with you long after you left the theatre. Same goes for Sathya’s cinematography that brilliantly evokes many emotions the films actors fail to.

It must be mentioned that the film comes across as shallow and the dialogues are laughably silly. Other than the talented Thambi Ramiah, it feels as if everyone is competing for a bad-acting award with their theatrics. If only these were taken care of, you would’ve had a gripping tale of lives unknown to us before.

Verdict: Shallow!

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