‘Kadaisi Ulaga Por’ movie review: Hiphop Tamizha Adhi’s ambitious dystopian film bites more than it can chew

Hiphop Tamizha Adhi in ‘Kadaisi Ulaga Por’.

The journey of the musical duo Hiphop Tamizha is fascinating, especially after Adhi turned actor and gave us a slew of relatable, fun entertainers. Even when he experimented with the superhero genre (Veeran), he stuck to commercial cinema. With Kadaisi Ulaga Por, Adhi has made his most ambitious project on a scale that’s new to him and a genre that’s new to the Tamil audience. The fact that he has bankrolled the movie apart from helming this enterprising project deserves praise, but whether that makes Kadaisi Ulaga Por an interesting, entertaining film is a different question altogether.

Kadaisi Ulaga Por, set in 2028, starts with the Tamil Nadu CM GNR (Nassar) getting bedridden. His brother-in-law Natraj (Natarajan), who claims to be a kingmaker, moves his pieces and makes the CM’s daughter Keerthana (Anagha) his political heir. But as she begins moving away from her uncle and starts making positive reforms thanks to the help from her beau Thamizh (Adhi), the world comes to a standstill when a new coalition of superpowers called the Republic replaces the UN and wreaks havoc on those not on its side. Chennai is reduced to crumbles as Republic soldiers resort to genocide, with many getting caught and a few escaping from their clutches. With a new world order in place, it’s up to Thamizh and his gang of patriots to fight for their land and freedom.

The most intriguing part of Kadaisi Ulaga Por — apart from its ambitious tale narrated with some brilliant VFX works — is the decision to make Natraj the narrator. As the master manipulator, the Tamil political scene equivalent of Game of Thrones’ Littlefinger, Natraj’s aspirations and actions are the propellors of Adhi’s story. Kadaisi Ulaga Por is one of those stories that might sound terrific on paper as slivers of good writing come through to the final product, which suffers from an identity crisis. Arguably, the biggest misstep of Kadaisi Ulaga Por is for the makers to take a high-concept film and try to treat it commercially with elements such as comedy, action, and romance.

The film has a lot happening but very little going for it. It’s as if the makers have a set of boxes to tick, hoping they have something for each type of audience walking in. In this process of balancing multiple tropes, the film sacrifices quality for quantity. The romance angle between Thamizh and Keerthana feels unnaturally rushed, and we spend so little time with the secondary characters that the impact of their death is akin to a firecracker that refuses to go off. Within a short period, the film introduces a barrage of characters, like a bunch of cops (Munishkanth and Singam Puli), their commissioner (Kalyan), a witless politician (Azhagam Perumal), an actor (Sha Ra), a forest officer (Elango Kumaravel) and a soldier (Harish Uthaman). While they all get their few minutes of fame, none get a solid arc.

Fragments of humour work out thanks to the veterans at play, and they owe it to Adhi, who takes the backseat for most of the film’s runtime. The VFX work is one of the best aspects of the movie. For those who grew up watching a decimated Statue of Liberty and a destructed White House in Hollywood films, it would be quite an experience to see a bombed Chepauk stadium and a devastated Rippon Building. While films from the West predominantly stuck to the post-apocalyptic genre, seeing a Tamil film centred around a state’s descent into madness gives a fresh take on the genre.

If you’re taking suspension of disbelief as your movie partner, Kadaisi Ulaga Por might be a good addition to the category of films Tamil cinema has not toyed much with. It’s not often we see a future where petrol costs Rs 350 a litre (neither are we willing to). Probably the biggest Achilles heel is why politicians and armed forces heads would listen to an ex-anti-poaching ranger with zero experience in a war room situation. But before one can think of it, the film hits you with melodrama and messages at an RPM faster than machine guns. Kadaisi Ulaga Por has fascinating ideas, and a sequel promises to take us to a world straight out of Terminator Salvation. That’s a place I’m more interested in checking out. As for Kadaisi Ulaga Por, its ambitious plot executed shoddily falls flat with the force of an atomic bomb.

Kadaisi Ulaga Por is currently running in theatres