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Around 20 minutes into Kolamavu Kokila, there’s a passing shot of the three women of the house, sitting in line, combing each other’s hair. It’s a visual that’s been repeated so many times in our films that we’re likely to not notice it; but not when it’s in this film. The mother has just been diagnosed with cancer, leaving her with just three months to live and even fewer days with a full head of hair. And so, even this most mundane daily activity, becomes striking, forcing one to sit up and take notice. This is one of the dozen such moments that make Kolamavu Kokila a special film;and it’s not the least because it’s ‘female centric’ film.
Kokila (Nayanthara, now deserving of early morning shows and pal abishekams) isn’t the result of a script re-write to force-fit a gangster film for a powerful heroine. It’s very much an organic film which achieves its own mass moments without its female lead ever having to imitate excessive displays of machismo. Much of that is because it is a very human story.
Kolamavu Kokila Genre: Dark comedy
Director: Nelson
Cast: Nayanthara, Yogi Babu, Saranya Ponvannan
Storyline: The elder daughter of a family turns to crime to save her mother from dying
Drug smuggling is something Kokila is forced to take up once she is told of her mother’s cancer and has no other way to earn the Rs.15 lakh it would cost for her treatment. And like Walter White of Breaking Bad, what we’re witnessing is the dark turn a normal person’s life takes when put in the toughest of times. Yet what sets it apart is how the film treats even the darkest situations with humour. There’s a hilarious five-minute stretch, which is essentially one long rape joke, where the entire family gets together to kill one gangster after another. What’s disappointing is what happens between such terrific scenes. It feels like a lot of time has been spent to set up one great scene, which is again followed with periods of dullness. It also doesn’t help how things get a bit too convoluted, like it so often does in films about drugs and smuggling.
Even so, it’s still one of the better films we’ve seen this year and a departure from the sermons that have come to be defined as feminist films. Kolamavu Kokila is quirky, ridiculous and fun and we can’t wait for what the lady superstar has to offer next.
Kolamavu Kokila will be an acid test for Nayanthara, after lukewarm response to Dora and Aramm
Nayanthara is undoubtedly Kollywood’s number one female actor lovingly referred by her fans as 'Lady Superstar'. No heroine has held sway over Tamil cinema for so many years. She has been paired opposite all male superstars, from Rajinikanth to Sivakarthikeyan and will now finally be Kamal Haasan’s heroine in Shankar’s Indian 2.
A female-led film is rarity in Kollywood, which is totally male-dominated. In recent times, Nayanthara started the trend of female-led films with the huge success of the horror thriller Maya (2015) and Naanum Rowdy Dhaan (2015) , a film which also saw the rise of its male lead Vijay Sethupathi as a commercial hero. The secret of Nayanthara’s success is that she works with young debutant directors with fresh ideas. She shuttles between big hero commercial entertainers and offbeat solo films. But lately, two of her female-led films, the horror thriller Dora and social message film Aramm, were lukewarm at the box office.
Now all eyes are on her this Friday release, a black comedy thriller Kolamavu Kokila also known as CoCo, directed by Nelson . It is a female-led film and has Nayanthara playing an ordinary girl with a penchant for drawing Rangoli, who gets caught in the clutches of a drug cartel. She uses her wit and charm to wiggle out of a tough situation which forms the crux of the story. Nayanthara is doing a totally de-glamourised role. She will be seen in a cotton skirt and top with her hair tied in a plait.
Nelson, the director of Kolamavu Kokila, says, “You can’t slot it in a single genre, it is a mix of crime, comedy and family drama. Nayanthara plays Kokila an introvert who is put in a difficult situation and how she reacts is what it is all about. Though she has done quite a few female-centric films, in CoCo, it is totally different in content and treatment.” The film also has Saranya Ponvannan, Yogi Babu and RS Shivaji playing key roles.
Another highlight of the film is that it has music by the hot and happening Anirudh Ravichander. The melodious 'Edhuvaraiyo', and the peppy and funny 'Kalyana Vayassu' is making waves. Two of the promo video songs from the film was directed by Nayanthara’s boyfriend lyricist and director Vignesh Shivan and shot stylishly by Ravi Varman, the cameraman of Sanju.
The buzz around the two-hour-long Kolamavu Kokila is very positive and those who saw a sneak preview, are raving about it. The Nayanthara film is getting a big wide release in Tamil Nadu and theatres are giving it prime shows as last week’s Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam2 has failed to take off. Theatres in Chennai suburbs are giving it a rare honour by having early morning shows, normally associated only with big Tamil heroes, as advance booking is terrific.
If CoCo works big time at the box office, Nayanthara will become a saleable solo heroine in trade. It will make her next film Imaikka Nodigal, releasing in the first week of September, hot in the trade. She plays the pivotal role as a cop and an investigative officer in search of the elusive psychopath, played by Kashyap. And it will also help her to do more female-led films by young directors with innovative scripts and packaging.
Updated Date: Aug 17, 2018 09:10 AM
Kolamaavu Kokila Synopsis: A young woman takes up drug peddling to make money for the treatment of her mom, who has cancer.
Kolamaavu Kokila Review: The first time we see Kokila (Nayanthara), the protagonist of Kolamavu Kokila, we see her asking superior about her raise. But he indicates that she should give him a different kind of raise so that he can take her case with the general manager. Her retort is one worthy of a mass hero, and it works mainly because it is Nayanthara who is delivering this line. It is the Lady Superstar’s ‘Unmaya sonnen’ (Baashha) moment.
The film is an out-and-out star vehicle that keeps giving its star whistle-worthy moments. And most remarkably, it manages to stay true to its genre – black comedy – and ensures that the script comes before the star.
Kokila’s family is your ordinary lower middle-class family. Her father (RS Sivaji) is a security guard, who considers even let his daughter discuss personal matters at his workplace – the ATM. Her sister is a college-goer while her mother (Saranya Ponvannan), a strong-willed, practical housewife, is the one who runs the show in this house. But when they learn that she has lung cancer, they are crushed. Worse, they will need at least ₹15 lakh for her treatment.
There is a subtle women empowerment message in this set-up. When her mother is resigned to her fate, Kokila asks her if she has chosen to be so because she is a daughter. And this provides her with the impetus to ensure that she earns the money required for the treatment. In fact, it is the women who call the shots in the film. When a murder has to be committed to save themselves, it is Kokila’s mother and sister who step up to the task even as her father turns into a wimp. Even Guru (Saravanan), the cop who is after them, is controlled by his wife.
But Nelson doesn’t make Kokila get into the drug-peddling business immediately after her initial encounter with drug peddlers. She goes through various channels seeking help, and none get her any further. We even see her meeting a rich man, who wants her to be his paramour. Thus, we never question her decision; in fact, it only makes us empathise with her decision wholeheartedly.
He populates this world with colourful characters, like an underling who gets too emotional, roadside Romeos (Yogi Babu is in form here) who is a subtle dig at the stalker-ish heroes of Tamil cinema, a drug dealer who likes to use cringe-worthy metaphors, and so on.
The film turns even more darkly comic in the second half once this family of simpletons also is forced to get into the ‘business’. It is all very hilarious and quite enjoyable, however, after a point, we begin to feel that the plot is running around in circles. Plus, we never get any indication of the cunning Kokila displays. She even does away with the men who she sees as a threat. We get she is ‘breaking bad’, but to this extent is something that the film never convincingly answers.
But the filmmaking is top notch, and displays an eye for tasteful aesthetics – shabby-chic settings, Sivakumar Vijaya’s gorgeously back-lit frames, coordinated costumes, even one-eyed tears… The use of songs recalls the approach of Vignesh ShivN – they take the narrative further even as they help maintain the playful tone of the film,and ensure that things never turn too dark.
Nayanthara, Yogi BabuNelson DilipkumarAfter playing an upright Indian Administrative Officer on the right side of law in 2017 film Aramm, Nayanthara flips on to the other side in her latest dark adventure, Nelson Dilipkumar's Kolamavu Kokila. As innocent sounding as the title itself may be – kolamavu in Tamil means rice-powder used to draw alpana/rangoli – Nayanthara's Kokila appears naive and even a wee bit muddleheaded till her mother's (Saranya Ponvannan) potentially fatal lung cancer drives the girl to plunge into a drug cartel.It is not that she connives and cons right from the start, but as luck would have it, she finds herself pushed into the seedy business after she had knocked all doors for money to treat her mother. A chance encounter with a drug operative, who uses the guileless, almost schoolgirl-like Kokila to get a packet of cocaine from the toilet of a women's hostel. And she walks through the police cordon in a breeze.Yes, the film has far too many convenient junctures – call them sheer coincidence – for the script to get top billing. But if one were to overlook these, and Yogi Babu's (who sets up shop right outside's Kokila's) desperate affection for Kokila, which turns sillier by the minute, Dilipkumar's work stays on course without distraction.A black comedy into which not just Kokila, but also her ATM guard father, her sick mother and college-going sister get sucked into, the movie manages to lighten the journey of a motley crowd, which includes good cops, bad cops, drugs dons in Chennai and their menacing boss in Mumbai.Somewhat poorly paced and lacking any penetrating dark humour, Kolamavu Kokila manages to engage without throwing up too much blood and gore. Nayanthara carries the plot with conviction. She could have added a few variations to her docile demeanour though.(Gautaman Bhaskaran is an author, commentator, movie critic)
