After a friend’s frantic call, Krishnan returns to his childhood and teenage years’ village to find his friend and what happened to him. Through a series of flashbacks, their lives are shown through school age, teen years, early adulthood, etc. With a script written by P. Balachandran with collaborative writing by Ajithkumar and G. Sethunath and directed by Rajeev Ravi, the film weaves back and forth through time showing more and more of lead Krishnan’s live as well as his friends and love’s lives. The way the years are mixed together with different actors for only a section of them requires one to pay attention to film as only details such as more white hair show the time passing. Even with this, the film is fairly easy to follow until the search for Ganga really heats up and more characters are added.
At that point, the viewer is involved enough to follow with the story as it develops and twists and turns. As the film advances, there is however so much in that if one has not paid enough attention, even though they feel like they have been following well, there is a chance to get lost. The film packs a lot in its 3 hours, which may seem excessive, but the film never slows down, it always has something to show, to say, to tell. Playing the lead of Krishnan for most of the film is Dulquer Salmaan who does very well with the multiple ages he gets to interpret his character at. His performance is quite strong and shows a lot of talent as he supports most of the movie and manages to keep the attention during the 3 hours runtime. He carries the movie and definitely gives a leading man’s performance. His skill and his charm bring an extra something to his not-so-good character with plenty mystery to him.
Playing opposite him in many scenes is Vinayakan as Ganga, the friend and sometimes frenemy Krishnan grew up with and is now looking for after that frantic call. Vinayakan’s performance shows varying levels of crazy and despair, with subtle changes and variations that make it both hard to dislike and like his character. He plays Ganga as a man who wants more but goes at things the wrong way with nuances that help bring the whole thing home. The cinematography by Madhu Neelakandan and the editing by Ajithkumar team up to create beautiful images and sequences. Their work shows the Indian countryside, the poorer areas as beautiful in their own ways at times and also as sad places at times. The film has a distinctive look throughout, a look that creates unity between the different time periods that story is set in.
Kammati Paadam is a drama showing some of the darkness and sadness to living very poor in India and trying to make a life for oneself when one may not be from the best caste. The film shows how a group of friends has each other’s back no matter what even after years apart. The way the story is built, how it shows them coming up in their world together, arguing, caring, doing everything with and for each other, gives an interesting view on life in a small Indian village, within a closes knit group. The film looks good and the acting is great, keeping the viewer watching through its long runtime without even trying.
Ithaca Fantastik 2016 runs from the 9th until the 13th of November 2016.