Kabadadaari is a neo-noir thriller directed by Pradeep Krishnamoorthy, which is the Tamil remake of the Kannada film Kavaludaari that was written and directed by Hemanth M Rao. The film has Sibi Sathyaraj and Nandita Swetha in the lead roles while Nasser, Jayaprakash among others play crucial supporting roles. It is produced by G Dhananjayan under the banner Creative Entertainers.
Shakthi is a traffic sub-inspector who aspires to become a part of the crime branch soon. His repeated requests to higher officials go in vain. One day, bones of three dead people get excavated near his place of work. While the policemen on duty don't put in much effort, Shakthi decides to take things into his hands and solve the case. How he manages to solve it and tie all loose ends forms the rest of the plot.
This is a remake of the Kannada film Kavaludaari which had a solid story. Kabadadaari adapts the same without any tweaks, therefore that becomes a strength for this film as well. It starts off during the emergency period in 1975, and these period portions are shot and staged really well. The film mostly manages to retain the essence of the original at least in terms of the technical aspects.
Sibiraj, Nasser and Jayaprakash shine in their performances among all. Had the performances of the other cast complemented the story better, the experience could have been several notches higher. As mentioned above, the film's biggest strength is it's story, written by Hemanth M Rao. The writing is so strong that despite these performances, the on screen proceedings single handedly manages to hold your attention and engage you till the end.
This is a whodunit thriller and it doesn't take the audience for granted. While giving away some information, it also gives the audience the space to figure out what's happening and solve the crime along with the protagonist. So in a way, this film interacts with the audience, making it look like a team effort. There are very little to no commercial compromises which again works in the film's favour.
There's a popular adage in filmmaking which is "show, don't say." Despite having a cinematographer who is in great form throughout, the film seems to be dialogue heavy. A few portions are staged like a play because the camera doesn't give us a sense of movement. Instead the actors keep coming in and out of the frame, mouthing dialogues.
The first few minutes could have been handled with more finesse, because it looks completely different to the rest of the film. Once the film jumps into the main conceit, the film somehow keeps you hooked. That's mostly because of Simon King's background score which is filled with variety and mass. With more of a narrative style based screenplay, the duration could have been a little more shorter.
All that being said, the most important question is, does the film engage you? The answer is a yes. But when comparisons arise between the original, this is faithful but falls a bit short. For the ones watching Kabadadaari first, it will definitely be a fresh product in the long list of thriller genre films in Tamil Cinema.