‘Kedi’ Review-2: Director Missed Golden Chance!

Nagarjuna, once in a Sakshi TV interview said that he likes films like ‘Slumdog Millionnaire’ and also implied that he is wishing to do something on those lines. I recalled that when I started watching ‘Kedi’ today. The initial scenes and narration clearly appear to be the inspiration drawn from Slumdog. Presence of Ankur in that added the conviction. Young and new director Kiran should be patted and encouraged but he shouldn’t be directed in wrong way. Seniors like Nagarjuna would have kept their minds on the script before going to shoot. Nag has shown path for many directors like Ram Gopal Varma and Krishna Vamsi. I thought similar thing also would work for Kiran. Bu that didn’t. Many loopholes were seen in the narration part. There is no smooth journey for the audience at all. It became difficult for director to hold the breathe of audience and pull them on to screen. Nagarjuna hits back on to screen after more than a year. His last film was King, released in Dec 2008. He is looking young and almost 20 years lesser than his original age. But that alone wouldn’t suffice. Mamata Mohandas is a glamour actress. But director used her without make up for quite long time, like in art films. She kept blank face in many scenes and that implies director failed to direct her as required. Brahmanandam became a waste. Script writer and director should be pointed for this. There are loops in the direction. The childhood heroine gets a tattoo on her shoulder with letter ‘R’ means Ramesh/ Rummy. And the childhood hero imprints a tattoo on his chest ‘S’!!! The director implied that as Sandhya. But her childhood name is Janaki. The name Sandhya gets revealed only when she grows older. Choreography is not good, editing also suffered hiccups here and there and on a whole, the confusion in script led to the bewilderment of all faculties. Keeping these trivial things aside, it is true that Kiran missed a golden chance. He is very fortunate for getting the chance to direct Nagarjuna in first instance itself. But he couldn’t use that properly. Reviewed by Venkat Arikatla, Chief Editor (venkat@greatandhra.com)