K.D(a) Karuppu Durai : Humorous Treatment on a serious issue.

Right from the beginning, the film runs on a humorous note. It starts with Karuppu Durai introducing his village and the people in his village, it moves to his family, his obsession for the Mutton Biryani  and then introducing himself as a person who is in coma for three months. Even the serious issues in the film are dealt in a humorous way, at the same time they won't let you to forget the seriousness of the issue.

Coming to the story line Karuppu Durai an 80 year old man, bedridden for three months suddenly wakes up one fine day to over hear his children planning to kill him through an ancient ritual called Thalaikoothal( A traditional way of Euthanasia). Hurt, Broken and afraid he leaves the house and meets Kutty. Kutty is an orphan who is being raised in a temple by a kind priest. Then a bonding happens between these two and how they helped each other in moving forward in life forms the rest of the story.

It is very interesting to see the development of a relation between two people, each of then are at different ends of their lives.  Though this kind of a narrative is not new for us, what makes it special is the characters of this film are organically fleshed out and the supporting cast adds to the progress of the characters' journey.

MU Ramaswamy as Karuppu Durai (a) K.D is a fit to the character. Even though his body fits the role, it's the spark in his eyes and his smile which makes him believable and more realistic. His innocence and his skeptical nature makes the proceedings humorous and emotional at the same time. But it's not just his work entirely. It's his chemistry with Kutty which brings these shades in him.

Nag Vishal as Kutty is sharp, sleek and really good in emotional scenes for his age. He is really good in the scenes where he gets frightened by the condition of K.D when he boozes are all heart wrenching and his reactions after those scenes are a huge relief in a humorous way.

The artists who played the characters in this film are believable and realistic. There are few characters which we don't find generally in such kind of films like a  detective who is appointed by K.D's family  is subtle and this makes him believable. 

The Director Madhumitha keeps the film engaging by presenting some familiar situations in a humorous manner and this is the unique selling point of this film. Especially in a scene where Kutty writes the list of K.D's unfulfilled wishes and asks him to read and K.D reads out something else. Kutty then finds K.D is an illiterate and makes fun of him.  There are many such scenes in the film like Kutty making a deal with the Dhaba owner, K.D meeting his childhood crush, K.D performing as MGR and Rajnikanth in a festival, K,D doing a role in a film. These scenes have to be dealt in a balanced manner, else instead of being fully they might turn out really bad. But Madhumitha executes them in a flawless manner. K.D eating Mutton biryani is the most iconic scene in the film and this comes twice in the narrative. Both the scenes have their own uniqueness and they bring a huge smile in your face.

Not just these things, the emotional parts are also dealt in a balanced manner. A scene where K.D proves his sons that he is no more an illiterate anymore is just hard hitting in a subtle manner. The usage of Metaphors where K.D gets to know a sacrifice he has to make and how he gets convinced are so organic and we never get a feel that they are forced into us to believe. 

There is a song which comes in the pre-climax which sets the conditions of both K.D and Kutty at the same time and makes us to empathize with the characters. There is no unbelievable miracles towards the end as it sticks to the plot. The characters journey has to be ended in such a way and there is no other alternative which is as realistic as this. But that doesn't mean it has a tragic ending. It keeps you smiling all the way around and makes your heart  a little heavy at moments and makes you smile again in the end. The only problem which I find here is the background music which has been used at some moments. We can see Kutty is cute through his actions. There is no need for the music to tell him that he is cute. This kind of musical treatment has to change in our films. Apart from that this is a treat to watch and a film to cherish,

-Aditya Gangadhar