Gatta Kusthi is a film written and directed by Chella Ayyavu, and bankrolled by Vishnu Vishal and Ravi Teja under the banners VV Studioz and RT Team Works. The film has Vishnu Vishal and Aishwarya Lekshmi in the lead roles, while Munishkanth, Karunaas, Kaali Venkat, Redin Kingsley and others in supporting roles. The music is composed by Justin Prabhakaran and the cinematography is handled by Richard M Nathan.
Keerthi (Aishwarya Lekshmi) is a wrestler and a B.Sc graduate from Palakkad. Her parents want to get her married but all the prospective grooms reject her because of her lifestyle. On the other hand we have Veera, an 8th pass from Pollachi who has no specific job, and spends most of his time with his uncle (played by Karunaas) and a lawyer (played by Kaali Venkat). Veera is searching for a bride with 2 conditions - she must have long hair, and must have studied less than Veera.
Keerthi's uncle (Munishkanth) lies about her educational qualification, and arranges a wig so that she satisfies Veera's conditions and they get married. What happens when Veera gets to know the truth about his wife, and what is at stake for him after knowing this truth is what the film is all about.
Positive things first, Vishnu Vishal must be praised for his guts to choose such a character with so many negative shades to it. He plays an innocent man, who gets manipulated easily by his misogynistic uncle, and expects his wife to dance to the tunes of patriarchy. Only a hero with no worries about his image can pick such a role. Despite his efforts, his character is something that must be taken seriously for the film to work, but the nature of the script is such that there are a lot of comic moments spread across.
This in a way dilutes the message that the film wants to convey. Aishwarya Lekshmi is terrific as Keerthi, a woman with feminist ideals. She carries the entire film on her shoulders, and gets a 'heroic' moment as well in the interval block which is definitely the most entertaining part of the film. If at all you need one reason to watch the film, it has to be her. She nails the wrestling portions as well, making it look as close to reality.
The first half has a lot of comedy sequences that work on and off, but the second half becomes heavily predictable, and melodramatic. An unwanted character is introduced all of a sudden, and it derails the film from what it wanted to convey. But the intent behind Gatta Kusthi is commendable.
Technically, the film has solid support in the form of music director Justin Prabhakaran, whose background score complements the on the face nature of the film well. The cinematography by Richard M Nathan is functional and gives the film what it exactly needs. However, the run time could have been reduced by a few minutes to give us a more crisp product.
Overall, Gatta Kusthi's story premise and treatment has a lot of potential to impress the family audiences, you can watch Gatta Kusthi once for the efforts of Aishwarya Lekshmi and Vishnu Vishal.