Why Kaala is a must watch!

Pa Ranjith is an incredible director. He proved again the role of cinema in communicating a message and in this movie every frame matters and every frame communicates. It is all in all Ranjith’s movie and the way he got the actor our of the characters is amazing. Rajani stands up to the role of an old gangster and a family man and so the other roles. The movie moves around Kaala, but he is not all there is to the narrative that the writer and director Pa Ranjith built in the Kaala.

Read also – ‘Kaala’ – Breaking The Stereotypes!

The movie is like a modern epic and the background is studded by the images of the Buddha, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Phuley, and Periyar. The images in the background communicate along with the plot of the movie.

The symbols used by Pa Ranjith to show Brahminical social structure are constructed with great detail. The construction company is named after Manu and the ideological underpinnings of the villains are clear from the setting and surroundings.

We cannot doubt Pa Ranjith’s credentials as the brother in our struggle. His images speak volumes of his love and commitment to the movement. His every movie revolves around social issues. Kaala is no exception the way he entirely changes the dominant Hindu narrations by not only showing Kaala in the Buddha Vihars and putting the Buddha prominently placed in Kaala’s home but also posing Ravana as the symbol of revolt against Ram in a carefully woven sequence.

Kaala is a political film for sure and it is around the revolution that the poor in Dharavi launch to save their land. The land as the setting for the fight and struggle is the centerpiece of the movie.

A must watch for the great directional efforts of Pa Ranjith!

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale