King of Kotha

First, let's talk about the things I liked in KoK, since they're very few.

• 3 scenes, in all of 3 hours: For a film with an excruciating run-time of 175 minutes, only three little scenes left a mark. Two of them involve Shammi Thilakan, who absolutely towers over the rest in terms of sheer screen presence (as a retired gangster turned family man). The third is a random drinking scene featuring DQ's and Shabeer's characters, and the only one where the dialogues sounded natural and indicative of a "supposedly" deep friendship. The rest of the film is completely flat, and of the two intro scenes for DQ's Raju, the first is slightly better. Chemban Vinod, playing a funny bad guy, is also quite good.

• That kickass background score - Jakes Bejoy single-handedly tries to cover up the gaping holes in the script with a fantastic effort on the score. If there's any reason to catch this on the big screen, it is to recognize this guy and the stuff he brings to the table even for the most mediocre flicks. "People of Kotha" is great ringtone (+ workout) material indeed.

• Cinematography & colour grading - Nimish Ravi paints Kotha in shades of brown and yellow, making for some organic visual texture. The setups and backdrops for some scenes actually look better than the scenes themselves. The colour palette is beautiful, be it in a bookstore, a bar, or at a playground.

Now, let's talk about the things that put me off.

• The writing: Abhilash N Chandran, who previously penned Porinju Mariam Jose, seems way too interested in creating conflicts that even lack a basic structure. Everything and everyone in Kotha is so random. How annoying it is that even when the writing lazily spends hours trying to detail various characters, including the main protagonist and antagonist, you don't feel emotionally connected to their journeys AT ALL! There's no shock of betrayal, no thrill of revenge; plus a surprising lack of elevation moments (except for the ones mentioned in the positives). The screenplay is old wine in an old bottle!

• Performances: Take a bow, seniors! The gangster crime sagas from your generation were obviously a lot better. DQ probably gives it everything he could, but Raju isn't a character anyone emotionally attaches themselves to, and he's too much of a charmer to carry/pull off the grit of a raw, cold-blooded gangster with almost psychotic shades. Shabeer Kallarackal's Kannan Bhai boasts a peculiar (but also familiar) blend of behaviours, and even though the guy's got the look and the gangster mannerisms right, I couldn't envision him as a "final boss". Aishwarya Lekshmi is utterly wasted, while Nyla Usha makes for an interesting-but-underwritten femme fatale.

• Sluggish pacing: Okay, when the story developments are so damn predictable, why director Abhilash Joshiy chose to stretch scenes out the way he did is beyond my understanding. Several scenes in both halves bring the pace to a drastic halt, and it takes a really long while to get to that forseeable finale. The tail-end also leaves much to be desired.

• Fight choreography: Except for the climax set-piece (which apparently was re-shot), the fight sequences in KoK are really meh. Action is an area where guys like Tovino and Antony Varghese have shown promise, but DQ falls way behind on this list. He's got a long way to go before he can even get close to what his father can still manage to do at 70+. For now, I'll put the blame sorely on the choreography, as even the final set-piece looks uninspiringly rehashed from the recent John Wick films.

Conclusion - Again, one could say that the massive hype and promotions for this film made you believe something incredible was in the works (of several second-generation artists and technicians), but unfortunately, they failed to deliver.

When there is a great promotion happens it means that the movie is not up to the mark. This time also , same happened here. Frankly speaking DQ is not capable of doing Mass role. The actions are ok.. The background score of this movie was very interesting.. Shammi Thilakan deserve a special mention. Aiswarya Lakshmi is just average but at the same time Nyla was very disappointing.

After the interval, second part is very lagging. It's a gangster movie at the same time this film give some importance to love, family and attraction. Intro of the hero was very outstanding..

As my opinion I must say it's just an average movie which can be watched once.

Let's see...

DQ screen presence was awesome however the script was very weak. 2nd half was too lagging. I kept looking the time, why is not getting over. When you do a pan indian release expecially a south indian movie people expect a minimum quality to the script. I wonder if Abhilash showed the script to his dad just to take a opinion.

I couldn't also stop noticing Gokul Suresh was only in police uniform entire 2nd half and his looks remind you of old Suresh Gopi. Music and bgm were top notch. Aishwarya lakshmi was wasted. Soubin was hardly in the movie for 5 minutes, either way that is OK because he can can really annoying with his stereotype acting.

Abhilash you had all the right ingredients just you dint do right. Anyway long way for you to go and do things right next time.

Just an Average movie. But as compared to the tamil movie BEAST this is far better.

This is a Drama, Crime movie so some people may feel lag while watching. As a film lover I didnt feel any big lag in it. Way of presenting the story is very bad. Story is very common. Second half is really boring. I feel too much violence from the hero in this movie to portray him as a deadly killer and to get more claps (failed). In my opinion that can make in a different way. Watched in an old English movie villain killed his enemies with just throwing a Pen or Playing Card without direct fight.

BGM, Fight scene, Acting and Camera are amazing. Really appreciate it. This is the first DQ movie I dont like, all other movies from DQ are amazing. Still remembering Lalu, Charlie, Faizy etc. Expected an action story like KALI, KAMMATTIPPADAM, SECOND SHOW etc. Ie; People should remember the story and Hero. Hero should make an impact or attachment (connection) in the viewers mind. Eg. Rocky Bhai and Adheera in KGF, Kattappa in Bahubali, Pushpa, or RAM in SEETHARAMAM, If they are targetting pan India.

Overall - watch and forget movie.

Very glad to see a good Gangster movie was made without big Technicians ,big Artists and cameos. Really the movie took us to few decades before. Visuals are really good. Fight scenes were very realistic. The movie has only one song which was not very catchy , but background score was good.

Good to see Bike chase, car chase,more gunshots, blasts are not available in the movie.

Length of the movie could have been reduced.

Team could have added well known actors to the movie. That would have been superb.

If you are expecting more gunshots,blasts, chase, Hero's dance from the movie, then you won't like it.

But as a gangster drama, it checked all the boxes.

It is a gangster movie without big stars.