Kenatha Kanom Movie Review: An old scar crossed by the cracked soil across Kodangipatti is the first silent statement in the film. The picture is all you need to understand the emotional world of Kenatha Kanom. It is a village in which even the ground appears weary of waiting till it rains, and all the water in the pots feels as though it had been gained through labour and not habit. The movie is constructed out of that drieness. It puts us into a society where even organizing a marriage falls apart under the mere inquiry of water as opposed to loud hero entries or dramatic conflicts.
That down-to-earth start provides the story with an oddly earnestness. Life is slow here, or infuriatingly so but the struggles are real. The village itself by the time the story starts to unravel behind the backdrop of Yogi Babu the lowly priest is already a protagonist of its own.
It is set in the village of Kodangipatti, which is dry as a bone and rain is almost like mythical. The inhabitants live by walking long distances just to get water. The reason I found these initial moments to be effective is that it sets the tone of the story with the earnestness. The villagers petition government authorities severally, up to the office of the Collector, but it does not help. Their cries are drowned in bureaucratic silence and they are caught in the loop of barrenness and neglect.
The main character of this setting is the character of Yogi Babu, who is a temple priest residing a simple life among the villagers. His position is curiously uncomplicated. He comes not as a saviour, as a heroic reformer. Rather he is one of the numerous ones who are fighting the same issues as anybody.
Nevertheless, he is soon touched by the crisis of the village. The family of the bride declines when his family tries to arrange a marriage. Their logic is savagely realistic. They think that their daughter would not be happy in a village where even drinking water is not ensured. I felt that rejection to be one of the most sincere scenes in the film. It shows how a social problem creeps into individual lives.
The villagers cannot afford to wait till the government takes some action, and they resolve to take it into their own hands. Their last-minute survival is achieved in the concept of drilling a well. A old man who says that he knows where to find underground water comes to the village. He picks a place close to the house of the priest, and the villagers are digging with a tentative hope.
What starts as a frantic water hunt, slowly turns out to be something other than that. As the digging is going on, something strange is found that alters the course of the narrative. This scene serves as the turning point of the narrative of the film. Up to this point the movie seems observational, but as this incident takes place the story starts to delve into the ramifications that ensue.
I liked the fundamental premise of this premise. There is no water shortage which is fictitious. The same crisis is still experienced in many rural areas up to the present date. By highlighting this problem, the movie appeals to the administrative negligence and how whole groups of people are compelled to suffer due to it. Below the surface plot, I also felt the undertones of other more social themes like displacement, struggle to survive, and the effects of development projects on the susceptible populations.
The premise has great potential, but the narration is leisurely paced to get to the heart of the conflict. Most of the first half is devoted to the description of the villagers, their routine and suffering. The movie puts so much effort in setting the mood of Kodangipatti and the characters of the people.
Although this world building is significant, I felt that the pacing was getting a bit too slow. Almost forty or fifty minutes later the story starts taking off in the direction of the main development around the well. The film sometimes seems to dwell too much on the details, which are not very important to the plot.
Only at the point of interval does the actual narrative impetus kick into action. The film eventually acquires some form of curiosity when the process of digging results in something unforeseen. The second half is a little more interesting than the first half as the story begins to delve into the outcome of that discovery.
Yogi Babu is a character that comes with a performance befitting the undertones of the character. It is not the far-fetched comic character that audiences tend to think he has. Rather, he was depicted in a manner that made me think of the grounded tone that he exhibited in Mandela. Here he plays an ordinary man who becomes part of a community’s collective struggle.
I liked the way he fits so well in the village environment. His appearance is never forced and he carries the role out quietly with a certain degree of sincerity. He does not overtake every scene, but leaves the story and the environment to breathe.
The rural authenticity of the film is also well provided by the supporting cast. In significant supporting roles are Lovelyn Chandrasekhar, Raichal Rabecca, George Maryan, Hello Kandasamy, and Ramakrishnan. Their performances contribute to the establishment of the impression that Kodangipatti is more of a living community than a backdrop of a film. The villagers themselves, in a number of ways, are a character of a collective nature in the narrative.
There are a few instances of comedy in the film but some are not effective. There are scenes that did make me smile. One of the sequences where the hundred day employment programme is involved brings in a light humour with the interactions of the villagers. The other scene is staged in a police station and this is where various characters are united in a set of embarrassing and funny circumstances.
One dialogue is especially memorable when one of the characters insists that the case be written in the name that he himself chooses. The funny insistence gives life to one of the funnier exchanges in the film.
Nevertheless, these humorous scenes are presented at random intervals. Sometimes it was like the movie could not determine which genre it wanted to be; a full-fledged comedy, or a social drama of more serious nature. Due to this tonal ambiguity, some of the scenes become deprived of their emotional significance. Scenes that might have provided strong dramatic effect occasionally change to humour, which dilutes the intensity of the storyline.
The second part carries on the investigation of the results of the strange finding that occurred in the process of well drilling. In spite of the plot development, it is seldom accompanied by a good suspense and tension. Screenplay has a fairly two-dimensional rhythm despite the emergence of new events.
I felt that the movie could have taken a number of ways. It might have adopted a more pointed satire or even more expanded into an emotional drama or even come to be a suspense driven story. Rather, it lies in between these possibilities without making any commitment to one or the other tone.
It also has some instances that seem a little forced. As an example, the main character is first presented as a priest in the temple, but the storyline then starts to treat him more or less as some spiritual character. This change in character perception has no great impact on the storyline. It comes out of the blue and leaves no significant comic or dramatic effects.
Technically, the movie is well-organized and efficient. Background music by Nivas K Prasanna helps to enhance the mood. The music in numerous scenes also adds emotional color to the scene especially when the desperation or anticipation of the villagers is at the focus.
The countryside is well-illustrated. The barren deserts and dusty roads are used to further support the main theme of the narrative. The movie is what I found to be striking as it does not make drought melodramatic.
With the film nearing its end, it is trying to provide a dramatic solution to the issues of the villagers. The climax presents some aspects which are obviously meant to entertain some part of the audience. There is one scene where Ajith is mentioned and there are some allusions to political ambitions, which the fans of the actor might find humorous.
But the denouement also drifts into the realms of what seems a bit of a stretch. The story starts with the creation of a symbolic resolution of faith and worship. Although the motive behind this is reasonable, the performance is a bit excessive. Rather than preserving the grounded realism that the story demonstrated above, the story is tilted towards a dramatic and somewhat cliché ending.
The flaws notwithstanding, I cannot disregard the power of the main idea of the film. Scarcity of water is still a threatening issue in most rural societies. In selecting this topic, Kenatha Kanom is trying to mirror an actual social problem.
The disillusionment of that idea is mostly in the way the screenplay approaches it. The story has sufficient potential either to become a strong social drama or a satiric comedy. Rather, it moves in a lumpy fashion, at times interesting but at times far-fetched.
Nevertheless, the performances and the authenticity of the countryside make the movie enjoyable. The characters are connected with the surrounding world, and their struggles seem credible. The comic is inconsistent but does provide some relief amid the sober background.
Ultimately Kenatha Kanom is a film that is constructed on a worthy idea but presented in patchy ways. I liked the way it tried to draw focus to plight of drought-ridden communities and the silent strength of the villagers who keep looking to find hope. Meanwhile, the sense of slowness and unsure tuning do not allow the movie to fully harness the strength of its idea.
It is still a small village tale of survival and hope, the desperate pursuit of something so basic but valuable as water. It can be easily viewed with a family as the story does not contain any adult content. As a movie going experience though, it eventually drags itself down to the level of an average adventure and not a memorable adventure.
Rating: 2.5/5
