When the producer of the highly successful film Marco follows up with his next, one evidently expects it to follow a similar template. And Kattalan, directed by debutant Paul George, is producer Shareef Mohammed’s attempt at recreating the Marco magic.
Marco was extremely high on violence, and so is Kattalan, but to a lesser extent. The battle between men and elephants takes centre stage in this film, with the illegal ivory trade as the focus. Gangster Maari (Suneel) holds the village of Aanakolli, situated in the forest area, hostage in an attempt to get a monopoly over the ivory trade in the region.
Killing elephants is the norm for him in the greed to become a cartel king, but a fierce battle erupts between Maari and his rival Eddie (Kabir Duhan Singh) in this endeavour. When Eddie manages to stall every attempt by Maari to transport the illegal tusks to Rameswaram, Maari hires a regular peddler named Antony (Antony Verghese) to do the job. Antony proves adept at circumventing attempts by police and Eddie to steal the tusks, and emerges as the key man in the Maari gang.
The usual nexus between politicians, the police and these hands is also touched upon in Kattalan. The first half of the film sets up the connection between Maari, the rivals and Antony, while the second half moves Antony beyond borders to Sri Lanka and what happens to the village of Aanakolli. So how is this film connected to the Marco Universe? This is eventually revealed towards the end.
With a run-time of around 120 minutes, Kattalan thrives on plenty of action, i.e. killings, from beginning to end. The action sequences are well choreographed but extremely lengthy, making the viewer lose interest. It’s not the story that really takes the film forward, but these action sequences between various characters. And that’s where the issue is.
The story by Paul George, Joby Varghese and Jero Jacob is regular fare and doesn’t emotionally connect with you. One doesn’t really feel for the sufferings of Aanakolli and its people, or the elephants being slaughtered, and that’s a downside to the narrative. The cinematography by Ranadive and BGM by Ravi Basrur are excellent. In fact, Ravi Basrur’s BGM for the action scenes really elevates them.
For actor Antony Verghese, this is a big film given that it is made on a budget of reportedly Rs 50 crore and is part of the Marco universe. While he has delivered a sincere performance, the movie perhaps needed a stronger lead to create more impact on screen. Suneel, as the villain, has done a commendable job, as have the other supporting characters. However, Dushara Vijayan only has a guest appearance and appears as a sassy, gun-toting Lucy in just a few scenes. One expected a step by female character in the film due to her presence, and it was a miss.
It’s evident that the director of Kattalan had a strong vision and ambition for this movie. However, it hasn’t been translated on screen, and the movie feels stretched. The movie impresses technically more than emotionally, and that’s where the issue is, unfortunately.
