Kaapa movie review: Prithviraj plays an unwise criminal in this unconvincing gangster drama

Anand follows the guidance of the cop and begins to negotiate the terms for his wife’s safety and freedom from the members of the underworld, including cops. “Before settling the issue with the cops, you must first make peace with Kotta Madhu,” the cop tells Anand.

Kotta Madhu (Prithviraj Sukumaran) is the uncrowned king of Thiruvananthapuram. He’s a Frankenstein monster. He was a creation of the police department to fix a horrible problem. Instead of being the solution that the cops wanted him to be, he becomes their nightmare.

Anand is our guide in the narrative; through him we learn about the peculiar gangster culture of Thiruvananthapuram. The main plot of Kaapa is as old as the gangster genre. Screenwriter G R Indugopan and director Shaji Kailas are not trying to break any new ground with this film. The duo stick to the basics of the gangster genre and have made no effort to be inventive.

Kaapa tries to recreate the effect of cult gangster films by Ram Gopal Varma. The longshots, pensive background music, and dimly lit scenes remind us of Varma’s Sarkar series.

The film puts focus on the seemingly never-ending cycle of revenge. Those who have blood on their hands cannot escape the vicious cycle without paying their dues. The problem is Shaji and Indugopan seem to believe that there is nothing more to the lives of gangsters, apart from killing and getting killed.

Kaapa offers little to no entertainment between Madhu trying not to get killed and his rivals planning to kill him. One of the major drawbacks is this film takes itself too seriously. The members of the gang rarely talk about anything besides shop. Such shallow writing gives its characters a pretentious quality.

Prithviraj’s act as Madhu is hard to buy as he comes across as an indecisive and unwise criminal, despite being the head of a crime syndicate. He makes one idiotic choice after another. For a man, who has been hardened by the ruthless ways of the underworld, he can’t make an informed guess and steer clear of situations that could endanger his life.

The staging of the action is also unbelievable. A group of bikers armed with knives attack Madhu who is driving an SUV. The attackers don’t even carry a gun. And they end up getting rammed by Madhu’s SUV. What were they thinking? In another scene, an important character goes to meet his arch-enemy without any visible protection, only to be blown to pieces.

A naive person like Anand may not be aware of the methods of the mafia. But, Madhu and his gang members must spot a hostile move a mile away, no? Kaapa harbours the most unwise criminals that one could see in a gangster film. And these problems barely scratch the surface. One cannot discuss the movie’s more glaring plot holes without spoiling it for readers who have not seen the film yet.