Kaappaan: Suriya, Mohanlal are charismatic in this formulaic action drama
Kaappaan starts with a bang and moves at a rapid pace, but somewhere towards the middle it gets bogged down and runs out of ideas. No wonder the initial trailer of the film was a downer with the look and feel of a 1990s patriotic film. To put it bluntly, other than the charismatic performance of Suriya and Mohanlal, there is nothing much in this formulaic old-style jaded action drama.
The trouble with this half- baked film is that it's dated; and director KV Anand and his screenplay writer Pattukottai Prabhakaran have tried to incorporate too many things into the plot. The movie also seems to have borrowed several scenes from Telugu and Malayalam films. The basic thread of the film is supposed to be that there's a threat to the Prime Minister's life and how an SPG officer singlehandedly tries to thwart the terrorist’s plans. The film keeps changing its focus, which makes the characterisation weak. Commercial ingredients like songs, dance, romance, action and comedy are thrown in at regular intervals. Moreover, a heavy dose of messaging and a threat of a bio warfare in agriculture sector through locust is added in the climax.
Too many subplots are thrown in as the film shows Kathir (Suriya) as a farmer who has got a lot of awards for his farming technology (In fact, Suriya’s last release NGK too showed him as an organic farmer). The next scene shows him as an undercover military intelligence-wing agent who had once infiltrated a terror group in Pakistan. The following scene has him saving the Prime Minister Chandrakanth Varma (Mohanlal) in London from a deadly assassination. The prime minister thanks him for saving his life and appoints him as his principal security officer. And Kathir’s team has a handful of good and bad SPG officers like Samuthirakani and Prem. PM’s son Abhishek (Arya) is an aimless fun guy who eats junk food (some brands are displayed) and loves to party. The beautiful and vivacious Anjali (Sayyesha), who lost her father, a former minister in a terrorist attack, is the press secretary in the PMO. There is also the billionaire businessman Mahadev (Bomman Irani), a kingmaker and greedy corporate leader who wants to control the PMO. And then there is a dreaded terrorist (Chirag Jani), who is trying to assassinate the prime minister.
