Kallan D'Souza

 

Story: Kallan D’Souza is a thief, but with a heart of gold. Things get sticky when he gets involved with the local CI in more ways than one.

Review: Kallan D’Souza spins a new angle on the police-thief story, raising questions about who is the bad-guy. Kallan D’Souza (Soubin Shahir) and his friend, played by Harish Kanaran, get by in life committing petty thefts. CI Manoj (Dilesh Pothen) is a corrupt police officer who confiscates a huge amount of hawala money, and plans to pocket a big portion of it with his team, rather than turning it in. This is the main thread of the story.

In the meantime, D’Souza once escapes from the police and ends up hiding in the house of Asha (Surabhi Lakshmi), who doesn’t turn him in to the police. They then keep accidentally bumping into each other in various places. Their frequent meetings develops into a warm bond, but as it turns out Asha is the wife of Manoj, who is also an abusive husband. It is in D’Souza’s company, that Asha and her hearing and speech impaired daughter derive some solace. Will the corrupt policemen get the money, and what happens when Manoj discovers his wife has befriended D’Souza forms the rest of the story.

While the premise of blurring the lines between traditional roles of good and bad is interesting, the film is hardly well developed with a weak story and a loose screenplay. Dileesh Pothen, Soubin Shahir and Surabhi Lakshmi put in beautiful performances, but this is hardly enough to save the film. Vijayaraghavan, Sreejith Ravi, Santosh Keezhattoor do justice to the smaller roles.

Harish Kanaran’s witty one-liners offer good comic relief, as do Soubin’s humorous expressions and witty moments. There are some tense moments, such as when Asha and D’Souza are in a park and are faced with moral policing, and CI Manoj and his team soon arrive at the place.

Singer Shahabaz Aman’s wonderful rendition of Tanichakume Veyilpathayil sticks with you, aided by the beautiful camera work and wonderful rendition by the ghazal singer. Premkumar and Aparna Nair’s cameo has nothing much to do though refreshing on the screen.

While director Jithu K Jayan makes a sincere effort, it doesn’t deliver the needed impact, and this film can be given a miss.