Any hard-core film fan who gets to see the movie’s first 5 minutes could easily guess the entire plot. Plus it is all in the title, ‘Kattappava Kanom’. When you are fishing for hope, it is a fish that gives you hope. No, this is not a say but it for sure suits the director Mani Seiyon who is making his debut. He has drafted a simple story just by keeping a lucky fish as a centre point.
Though the narrative pattern is something we have seen in numerous films in the past, the comedy comes in as a rescue. Sibiraj, who plays the role of the protagonist, performs well enough for the role that was offered to him with some nuanced funny expressions to convey his helplessness. Aishwarya Rajesh, though travels throughout the film, doesn’t quite impress us like she had done in her previous films. Maybe her character is a little too mainstream?She has tiny romance scenes with Sibiraj but those look very hurried and hardly make an impact. Had it been a little more focused, we might have got some good chemistry building between the leads but unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
The film deviates from its core plot now and then. A cute little girl features in the movie. She is the reason why Aishwarya Rajesh does not sell the fish and she also gives a hint that the fish stands as a symbol of luck. But a couple of her scenes could have been put away with.
Kattappava Kanom has an interesting line up of supporting actors like Kaali Venkat, Livingston, Saravanan, Yogi Babu, Mime Gopi and Thirumurugan who keep throwing in comic lines causing the audience to break out in laughter. Comedy has turned out to be a beaming positive in the movie although people might get the feeling that it is being overdone at some places. The director has made sure that he has packed his story with back to back comedy scenes making you overlook all the logical errors.
Another word of caution! You may not enjoy these comedy scenes if you are watching the film with your family as a lot of dialogues have double meanings and some look tawdry. But if you watch it with your friends, you might have a few hearty laughs. So a lot depends on who you are watching the film with.
Santhosh Dhayanidhi’s music has been a plus to the film. Be it ‘Penne Penne’ song or the BGM, he has offered what is needed out of him. On the other hand, the editing could have been a little better, may be tighter.
Although, a guessable tale, Kattappava Kanom has enough scope to be a safe bet but it does not satisfy you completely. You leave the theatre hall with a void. You might feel, yeah, the premise was fine, the actors did a good job, even some of the comedies worked but something was missing. Why? We feel the detailing part was overlooked. The characters did not have any depth and they come and go. The first half has some half-baked romance and a fairy tale fish story with a kid which caters to a family audience whereas the second half has a lot of adult oriented content which targets the youngsters. End of the day, the film gets stuck in-between neither here nor there.