Kaithi

Kaithi (2019)

Runtime: 144 minutes

Directed by: Lokesh Kanagaraj

Starring: Karthi, Narain, Ramana, George Maryan, Harish Uthaman

From: A few Indian companies

It's time for me to play catch-up. Here's a review posted on Letterboxd a few days ago: This time, it was a movie watch inspired by recent Letterboxd discussion. Out of nowhere, my review for the 2018 Indian movie Satyameva Jayate (which I actually saw theatrically) gained some traction and there was discussion in the comments w/ a mutual which made me realize that I should see more of these. Earlier in the year another mutual reviewed this in particular and that's why it has been on my radar since then. As it's actually for free on YouTube via an official upload from one of the production companies, that's how I viewed this. Before I get on, that YouTube copy had something curious: whenever there was smoking, alcohol seen or drugs, a small message popped up in the Tamil language-as I know nothing about that language written or spoken, thankfully each message was accompanied by a pictogram telling the audience not to drink, smoke or do drugs! Was that something only for the print on YouTube, only done by some studios or is that actually common for all modern Indian films?

Anyhow, a plot inspired by both Sorcerer and Assault on Precinct 13 (or if you will, The Wages of Fear/Rio Bravo) will capture my attention. It involves cops and a phalanx of drug dealers. Via contrivances, cops at a party are Roofied (!) by the villains and the only one to transport them in the flatbed of a truck to a hospital is a convict just released from prison-for what I would say is justified homicide-and an officer w/ a broken arm. Meanwhile, those same dealers attempt to break into a police station to release one of their own... further contrivances have the only people guarding the station be a new officer and some random teenagers. The most plausible scenario it is not... but is it greatly entertaining, yes. Consider, the truck stops surprisingly often considering the circumstances, yet it does allow for our hero Dilli to wreck dudes in hand to hand combat.

After a half hour of setup which establishes (among other things) the main players and how both sides have someone undercover, the rest is action mixed with some drama and pathos. After all, Dilli has a 10 year old daughter he's never met before... for its uneven moments and silliness, overall the movie is a lot of fun. The action beats are pretty cool and sometimes unique-there's explosions, shootouts, unexpected heroes, and a Minigun a la Ol' Painless from Predator. Plus, believe it or not there are no musical song and dance numbers. Be that as it may, it still has a typical Masala mix of a few different genres that can only come from motion pictures originating in India. It's all set in one night and not only does it have some unique elements, but those are mostly executed well. Thus, this was just another reminder that at least for me (although perhaps others should be paying attention too) India is not a country whose cinematic output should be ignored.