Ko (2011) - Tamil Movie Review

Cast and Crew :

Starring : Jeeva, Ajmal Ameer, Karthika Nair, Piaa Bajpai, Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sona Heiden, Pattimandram Raja, Anthony, Jegan
Directed by : K. V. Anand
Produced by : Kumar, Jayaraman
Written by : K. V. Anand, Subha
Singers : Vijay Prakash, Tippu, Ranina Reddy, Priya Subramaniam, Solar Sai, Aalap Raju, Prashanthini, Sricharan, Emcee Jesz, Krish, Haricharan, Sayanora Philip, Sriram Parthasarathy, Bombay Jayashree, Naresh Iyer, Hariharan, Swetha Mohan, Chinmayi
Lyricist : Pa. Vijay, Madhan Karky, Sricharan, Emcee Jesz, Kapilan, Viveka
Music by : Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography : Richard M. Nathan
Editing by : Anthony
Studio : R. S. Infotainment
Distributed by : Red Giant Movies

Again, here's another story about a bunch of people taking on corruption. Only this time it's a political party comprised of youngsters assisted by a team of a photographer and a journalist. Thol Thirumavalavan's Minsaram told us that students are like electricity and they shouldn't be messed with ("Thota Sethudivenga"). This attempts to tell nothing. It's a purely commercial venture.

K V Anand did nothing in Ayan to provide realism to the film. His treatment with Ko isn't any different. Despite the suspension of disbelief, the film is too big a hairball to swallow. Once again, you have a contrived plot, music numbers and, acrobatic and choreographed fight sequences. Along with all of these, you have stick figures (instead of characters) that serve their respective purposes as plot elements.

Anand has scrimped on writing the characters and hence, the extrinsic acting. Yes, he's written a contrived, implausible plot but what drive the plot are stick figures saying things that you'd least expect them to say and doing things that'd be the last thing you'd expect them to do. In Ayan, the heroine romanced the hero in a song just minutes after the hero lit her brother on fire. Once again, he trivializes the death of a dear one in Ko. He doesn't know where he should or shouldn't insert music numbers (Harris Jayaraj succeeds at playing his part, solo). Don't worry; I'm not giving you more than I should be. The events of a film are as predictable as the results of a random number generator- which is what the film is. I certainly don't mean that as a compliment.

The film is well packaged. It's sold to you. It is wrapped with the prettiest gift wrapping paper. As you unwrap it, the expectations mount. Finally when there's no more to unwrap, what you're left with is a dazzling jewelry box. You open that and you're face to face with a steaming pile of crap. But, the average Tamilian won't dare open it. He's had a hard week at a job that he doesn't particularly enjoy and just the thought of Ko has helped him get by. So, he would rather delude himself about being satisfied with that jewelry box than open it and let his expectations be shattered. I'll tell you this much, Ko is going to be a big success at the box office. It's marketed well and instead of enriching the average Tamilian's life, it exploits his hardship and makes him a victim of crass commercialism.

I'll give K V Anand credit for what he deserves- he's a good music video director and he manages to keep you entertained throughout. I didn't think the film clocked in at anywhere close to three hours. But, he isn't a good filmmaker. Ko staggers throughout, pretending to take risks and after the first misstep; it's nothing but a free fall, all the way. The funny thing is the free fall isn't a smooth ride either. It hits every protruding rock. Just when I thought the film couldn't become more preposterous, it surprised me with the ending, which awakened memories of another film and made me want to throw something at the screen- maybe K V Anand himself.