Monday Aug 04 2008, Trivendrum

Kabadi Kabadi- Gone wrong!

Directed by - Sudheer-Manu

Produced by - Shani Khader

Music by - Nadirsha

Casts - Mukesh, Kalabhavan Mani, Rambha, Maani.C.Kaapan, Suraaj Venjaramoodu, Harisri Ashokan, Bheeman Reghu, Ponnamma Babu, Indrans, Jaffer Idukki, Manka Mahesh, Zeenath etc.

Banner - Souparnika Creations

What’s Kabadi Kabadi, if not a film gone totally off the rails due to poor scripting and equally poor direction? It could have been better, you feel, but on the whole it’s sufferable to some extent.Vijayan (Mukesh) and Madhavankutty (Kalabhavan Mani) are sons of Mambully Rajashekharan, who of course is no more.Madhavankutty, who is the son of Rajashekharan’s legally wedded-wife, would not care to accept Vijayan or his mother, who was never wedded to Rajashekharan.But the father, before passing away, had accepted Vijayan as his son.Anyhow the two sons are sworn enemies and spare no chance to humiliate each other.

Both Vijayan and Madhavankutty have their sidekicks, the very usual filmy kind of sidekicks- played by Suraaj Venjaramoodu, Harisri Ashokan, Jaffer Idukki and Indrans.And there is an annual Kabadi tournament held in memory of Rajashekharan in which the Vijayan and Madhavankutty always vie with each other for the trophy, with Madhavankutty always emerging triumphant.in addition to all this, there enters a retired judge (Maani.C.Kaapan), who is said to be in the hit-list of many people all over India and who has two daughters, Sneha and Pooja (Rambha in a dual role), both identical twins.

All this could have contributed to the making of a better entertainer, but courtesy poorly written script and equally poor direction, the film falters at many places.Mukesh is his very usual self, but in some of the shots his age betrays him to some extent.And as for Kalabhavan Mani, the directors (it’s a director duo) could have tapped his potential better.The rest of the cast are OK, including Rambha, who doesn’t sizzle much as she is expected to do.As for songs, what to say? And technical aspects don’t impress us in any way too.

So, courtesy the scenarist and the debutante directors, Kabadi Kabadi becomes a film which you can very well skip.