Kayamai Kadakka

Kayamai Kadakka (2021)

Written, Directed, Edited & Produced by: Kiran R
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Spoilers Ahead.

It's a minimalist film made on a shoestring budget - but never do you feel so, because of the way it's beautifully written and executed. I like how the film has a lot to unpeel. The outermost layer, I'd say is about hypocrisy - the way we say things but don't really do what we say. And then the next layer is about justice, and the ideas of vigilantism. And the next layer, my favorite part, it's a mystery thriller. I'm not a big fan of films with pro-vigilante ideas, because I personally don't believe that death sentence is the solution to any kind of crime, let alone rape. But that's just my opinions out of very limited knowledge that I have. But this film works as a thriller, with interesting twists and turns. That's what I love about films like this - which have a social voice, but also work irrespective of that. I think films like this will inspire change, and not films which have their worldview shoved down our throats right from the first frame of the film. 

The play with the multiple personality disorder was very interesting - and that was a really nice tool to keep us hooked. Also it'd work because the film can be shot with lesser actors. I like these kind of films - which are very contained, and yet they hold our attention throughout. I was reminded of films like Lens, Pizza, D-16, Hush, Run, etc. They're super fun to watch. I liked the meter where the actors were performing, it was very subdued and sometimes I feel like it works better like this. It's the same case with background score - sometimes an overtly sad music over a sad scene becomes an overdo. And sometimes silence hits better. Just like that, I think in the film the subdued performances added a lot to keep us hooked.