Ko 2 (Tamil, 2016)

There are sparks (few and far between) of what might have been interesting directions had the film’s screenplay had chosen to take them. So, to credit where it is due, writer director debutant Sarath establishes his potent through some such scenes.

Prakash Raj & Ilavarasu get to own commanding screen-space after their Thiruvilaiyaadal Aarambam association and they have done their fair bits to support the film’s proceedings. Bharath Reddy’s earnest show & John Vijay’s histrionics also make a mark. Karunakaran, in a short, sweet and a different role throws in a pleasant surprise

Leon James music is a definite surprise package scoring as well with the background as it did with the film’s chartbusting album. He impresses with good variety. Bakkiam Sankar & Rajaraman have thrown some crisp exchanges and it is to their credit that one still remembers the dialogues amidst the haze the inconsistent screenplay shrouds the film with.

There has been some inventive work done by the CG & VFX teams and add some needed pace in the NSG & Police scout scenes.

There has been a terrible miscast when it comes to the film’s prominent roles – that of the kidnapper & his aides. Bobby Simha tries his best but doesn’t really convince you with what is to be the angst of a perturbed soul. His character establishment is absolutely shoddy. In fact the hurried flashback is no good to prove his reasons for attempting such a tall task. Was Nasser even necessary for such a flash-and-miss role?!

A major portion of the first half is spent on a lackluster framed story and it tests the patience of the viewer as we are taken through spoofs of scenes lifted from Kaadhal Dhesam and Thalapathi – all this when the CM is kidnapped.

The police (just ‘two?!’ of them) enquiring just one person and that too, funnily, can’t be taken as a joke even if it was meant to be, given the stakes involved in the kidnapping.

The film deviates to issues on Black Money, Farmers, Agricultural land exploitation etc. to no avail. The entire exercise, which takes the path of of social awareness, goes waste when it all culminates into a revenge story coming to an abrupt, banal end.