Kaala [2018 - Tamil - 2h40m - Genre : Rajinikanth]
Written & directed by Ranjith

Starring : Eswari Roa, Huma Qureshi, Anjali Patil, Nana Patekar, Samuthirakani, Manikandan, Dileepan & others with Superstar Rajinikanth.

OST : Santhosh Narayanan

Banner : Wunderbar Films (with Lyca Productions)

Haridev Abhayankar, a member of union council of ministers of Lok Sabha, dreams to acquire the lands of Dharavi. His agenda is to chase the Tamil immigrants from the heart of Mumbai, enabling himself to modernise the city under his pet projects 'Digital Dharavi and Pure Mumbai'. He demonstrates the power of power on Tamilians from Tirunelveli living in Dharavi making their lives miserable by grabbing their households in the name of government schemes. One man shall stand between him and his dream. At the blink of white collar power play in its fullest form, the bold disobedience of Karikaalan hauls the dominant authority by shattering the administrative settings and erupt as black smoke of social revolution permitting the weak to retrieve what rightly belongs to them.



Kaala is an important film.

The movie has undertoned 'Rajini Politics' concealed within at many instances throughout its runtime. During the interval block, Kaala, sitting at the centre of the land of Dharavi, introduces his entourage to Hari Dada who had come to pay him a visit. Kaala points to his right introducing his many friends and then, presents his closest associate, Vaaliyappan, standing alone to his left. Anyone interested can look into 'Leftist-Rightist history/ideology in Indian Politics' and sum up the scene. The film is muchly based on confronting with the ideology between the right and the left wing politics without going into radical extremism.

Screenwriting is a procedure to convert the story from paper medium into the visual medium and defining the narrational frame within. There are several methods to deliver a story to the screen. One aspect that I look forward is the opening and closing of the story (First and Last Frames). I feel that this aspect connects the characters/events (or scenes) that are far apart from each other. Such single frames are ignored easily and the art of writing is completely overlooked. For instance, the fire element triggers the meeting and the separation of Zareena and Kaala, both in the past and in the present - a soothing lamp flame turns itself into a monstrous fire.

In Kaala, Ranjith has exhibited his screenwriting skills by recording realistic and effective dialogues, where the first and last lines uttered by characters leaves an immense impression, for eg :

Poda ... Nilam Engal Urimai (Kaala)

Appa out pa ... Appa ulla irru pa (Selvam)

Ranjith has also induced expression to counterpoint the first phrases of Character Selvi. She is introduced asking her daughter-in-law to check the sourness in the dish that is cooking. During her final presence on screen, she holds an expression in her face as though her tongue tastes sour.

It is quite clear that Ranjith wants to bend a well-known belief and turn it into a power of assumption that could straighten the reality. He had juggled with the Epic Ramayana not only during the 'Dharavi Attack - End Of Kaala' episode towards the end, but by even naming one of his characters as Vaali (The King of Kishkindha who was slayed by Lord Ram) and allowing him to be the best friend of Kaala. On the other hand, Hari Dada's another avatar, a ground worker, is named Vishnu. Kaala sings to his wife : 'Nee Potta Kotta Thaandaathavan'. Other subtexts may kindle fire when explored, esp. one the henchman who terrorises Dharavi, but there is much more inside the film Kaala than just what meets the eyes.

But Vishnu's death and Visarjan (immersion of Ganesh Idol in the sea) has nothing to do with 'anti-religious propaganda' as many may consider. There are so many versions as to why the idol of Ganesh is immersed into water bodies. The principle faith is 'removal of obstacles'. The dissolving the idol in water bodies (lakes, well, rivers & sea), after keeping it inside the living area of the house for specific number days, represents the end of problems for the devotee. Water body is believed to be the supreme creation of God that cleanses the evil or purifies the soul permitting it to get back to its destination after the death of its body. So, when Kaala fights Vishnu over the bridge (under the presence of water element) the Visarjan is assosiated along with the 'Fall of Vishnu'.

There is another thread line to this fight sequence. Keeping Buddhism as another subtext, Ranjith treats Kaala as the re-incarnation of Buddha giving Kaala some special powers too - Kaala walks on fire. His dark sun glasses are the meditating eyes of Buddha and Kaala carries an umbrella (Chatra - stands for Protection in Budhism one of the eight symbolisms of Buddhism). Kaala also seems to be spending his time outside the Buddha temple and in the end, a top notch dialogue; the flower vendor says firmly that she saw Kaala at the Buddha temple. But Kaala does not inherit the qualities of Buddha in his manifestation. He is the 'Anger of Buddha', an opposite of his prime. Thus, he roams in black concealing all his anger, while Buddha reflects his calmness in his white robe. Kaala is a messiah for the needy who has appeared in his violent form as the threat is bigger.

The principle characters, Kaala and Hari Dada, are identic. Both are brutal, savage and barbaric. They both have similar family structure including social respect. Even though Hari Dada is shown someone to be crueller than Kaala, Kaala is equally murderous as Hari Dada. Their duologue is scripted excellently. Both are in need, and the duel rests mainly for Power - Power of the People versus Power of the Council. Kaala seeks justice, while Hari Dada is the law.

Kaala is a mystery. The story happens under a year's span, where most of the Indian festivals pass by to register the timeline. Thus, not much of Kaala (his mental and moral qualities, his attitude, etc.,) is explained. Kaala is elaborated through the actions of the other characters. Every character is similar to Kaala, or Kaala is made up of other personalities around him. His four sons are the four pillars of his nature, his thoughts, habitual gesture and behaviour. Kathiravan is an industrialist who takes care family buisness - Wealth. Another is a literate who wants to get out of Dharavi - Knowledge. Selvam is valiant whose physique terrorise the opponent - Endurance. Manikandan is rebellious trying to make Dharavi a special place - Defiance. Holding all these character traits together for Kaala is Selvi - Fullness. Other two personalities who influence Kaala are Zareena (Compassion) and 'Puyal' (Temper), where Kaala does move affairs legally (conditions applied), also questions wrong information firmly. Moulding these distinctive qualities into Kaala is Vaali, the all-knowing mind of Kaala, which is always half-conscious. Thus, Kaala is all of them at some point in his life and to break the mystery of Kaala, all these characters should be read attentively.

Ranjith's screenwriting makes all these fabulous characters look lustrous, and with a right casting, every artists swirls on screen as bright black pearls.

Santosh Narayanan is an invisible colour in the film. His original soundtrack (the variety he scored for Kaala is HipHop) matches the life style of Dharavi as Ranjith wants to project. It speaks the language of the 'Rappers' who circle around during important scenes who are actually the pain and joy of Dharavi. There are four elements in HipHop - Breaking, Emceeing, Graffiti and Turntablism. Santosh Narayanan has used all the core elements of HipHop to make Kaala Album complete, yet very unique. The special themes are constructed for the situations, highlighting the density of the incident; be it for a fight sequence or for a dramatic scene.

Balancing Rajini's presence with the theme of the story has been carried out visually by Sreekar Prasad; the dissolves are perfect, esp. while the flashback that is narrated by several narrators. Yet, some sequences jump like rabbits, and I understand that it was Ranjith's chioce to remove few scenes/dialogues.

After about more than 150 films, I am awed to see directors and camera-man still able to call unique and original shots for Rajini. The camera work during the interval block where Rajini stands showing his back to Hari Dada is attractive, entertaining and intellectually demanding; keeping in mind the visual images potraying this particular encounter between the two principle characters is the heart of the story. The slo-mos rip the nerves off. And Dharavi looks real with effective objects fitted into each frame. Hats off Murali G.

Ranjith's intention is not only to make a 'Rajini Film' or talk about the minority groups or discuss about social inequality and discrimination, but also to register the way of life of a group of people. Art director Ramalingam gives a visual identity to the lifestyle brought to reality by Ranjith. The layout design is cluttered matching the environment of Dharavi, well backed by the production designer of Wunderbar films.

The list of technicians handling various departments is too long and I have a page to write about each of them and their contribution to shape the film Kaala. So to make it short, Danush has assembled a team of smart technicians who are committed and who have deepened expertise in their line of work. Hats off Danush.

Kaala - Theory of Colours

'Kaala Climax' is not only about black, red and blue colours. Nor Kaala is only about black. Kaala concerns red, blue and yellow that constitute true black - Kaala.

Throughout the film, red and blue colours follow Kaala - during the intro scene the kid in focus wears a red & blue football jersey or when Zareena leaves Kaala's house she rides a red scooter and Manikandan opens a blue umbrella when it starts to rain. While red walks the streets, the roofs of Dharavi are blue … etc.

Yellow, as in sunshine, is represented through Zareena. She wears a yellow dress when she meets Kaala at his resident after several years. An excellent job by Anu Varadha, esp., choosing different colours garments for Zareena suiting to the mood of the situation. Anu has entirely designed the costumes for the characters based on the script and not for the artists.

Green, obtained by mixing blue & yellow, is a friendly colour. Valli wears a green Tawiz and is a friend of Kaala who had accompanied him even before they stepped into Dharavi. Selvi stands for orange colour which is made out by mixing 1 portion of red with 5 portions of yellow, thus, making Selvi more generous in showering love towards Kaala and her family. Each character has its own traits of colours and all these colours put together they become black - Kaala.

The climax is based on Kaala unleashing all the colours held within him. Primarily, there is red, there is yellow blown through and then, comes the blue. The arrival of blue is a beauty; kids completely painted in blue rise up. It has to be noted here how Hari Dada behaves while being encirlced by the colours. His expression clearly maintains his dislikeness towards the presence of other colours which are not as pure as white (absence of colour). He seems to be confused while black (Kaala) circles around him. He is lost in the sea of red. And he tries to chase away the blue by spinning the piece of white cloth in his hand. Hats off Ranjith.

In the end, Kaala signals the colours to begin the party by pulling his hands together that looks as though he is painting (touching) the sky and instantly, almost every colour starts to dance in joy (Vanavil Koothu – a lyrical line from the OST). They mix and mingle with each other until 'The Cry of Hari Dada'. Then, all colours are sucked in unity becoming a mighty black - Kaala. The screen fades to black. Again, hats off Ranjith for giving me one of the best and complete 'Rajini Climax'.

Kaala - Dead or Alive

Dharavi is the fortified fort of Kaala. Kaala seldom leaves Dharavi as he is aware that death awaits him outside the blocks. Kaala exits Dharavi, and each time death appoints itself to be present beside Kaala. He goes to meet Zareena and Bheemji gets killed. He walks over the longest flyover of Mumbai (6.5 km) spreading at Santa Cruz Chembur Link Road and slays Vishnu. Following the 'Interrogation Scene', as well as, after he meets Hari Dada at his resident, death marks its stamp around Kaala. 'The Curse of Kaala' is to have death following him as his shadow, which eventually tears apart his heart.

Personally, I conclude that Kaala is alive. When Kaala returns to join the principle group during the opening of the song 'Katravai Patravai', he voluntarily dashes his shoulders with Manikandan, whose expression on the face when turns and notices Kaala made me decide so.

As anyone with vision could see, Kaala is an important film.

Kaala - Dark Victory