Cheekati Rajyam - Movie Review

What’s it about?

Diwakar (Kamal Haasan), a cop working with Narcotics department lands in soup when his son is kidnapped by cocaine peddler and nightclub owner Vittal Rao (Prakash Raj). The deal is to return a 10kg bag of cocaine which Diwaker kept to himself after busting the gang of Vittal Rao. The cop lands in more trouble when he loses the bag he has to return and Mallika (Trisha) a fellow cop suspects his sincerity as a cop. How Diwaker saves his son and clears himself from fellow cops forms the rest of the story.

Analysis

Based on French film Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night), Kamal Haasan’s Cheekati Rajyam has a straight thriller storyline. The story mostly takes place on a single night in a club. I haven’t seen the original movie but Cheekati Rajyam has all the ingredients to be a racy thriller with the excellent camerawork, absolutely high standard sound design and enthralling music, but the second half lets it down.

With screenplay Kamal Haasan and directed by newcomer Rajesh Selva, the film has two stories running in parallel, on one end we see a crime network and corrupt cops. And the other side shows us a family in which there is a divorced wife (Asha Sharath) who is bitter, a father (Kamal) who does anything for his son. Before the interval, the drama that happens is very riveting. But the wafer-thin plotline has not much to offer in the second half. And the pace of the screenplay has not come to its help. 

Yet, technically Cheekati Rajyam is a brilliant film. The polished action sequences impress heavily. Gibran’s music does need applause; it gels well with the story. Action scenes remind us of Hollywood movies, such is its impact.

Kamal has been trying different kinds of movies off late. This one of course does not have an unusual storyline. But Kamal’s presence has made a lot of difference to this regular fare. He carries the film on his shoulders and performs splendidly as a cop. Prakash Raj as a cocaine peddler and club owner does his role with terrific enthusiasm. Sans any makeup Trisha has given good stunt sequences. But Kamal and Prakash Raj have outshined her.

Sampath and Kishore have rendered commendable performances. Madhushalini is good so is the child actor Aman who acted as Kamal’s son. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are good. Cinematography by Sanu John Varghese is excellent. New director Rajesh’s work is okay.

Bottom Line: Cheekati Rajyam is an action thriller with all its elements, but the storyline lets down the film a bit. Some twists and turns in this thriller would have done wonders to this. Kamal and his team have concentrated more on the stunts and sound design, some work on the second half would have elevated the film to a different level.