Kousalya Krishnamurthy - Movie Review

Story:

Rajendra Prasad, a passionate cricket lover, is a poor farmer in a Telugu village.  His beloved daughter Kousalya (Aishwarya Rajesh) is moved by her father's undying love for cricket.  In an impressionable age, she decides to make her father joyful forever by becoming a cricketer.  

Braving all odds, Kousalya becomes a 'galli' cricket star by self-teaching the game.  A spin bowler and a thorough batswoman, she learns the tricks of the game rather instinctively.  But the cricketing genius faces unspeakable discrimination at the hands of her colleagues and may never make it to first-class international cricket.  

What follows is a story of her struggle against enemies, both real and metaphorical.  A mechanic (Sivakarthikeyan), who was a player in the past, plays an instrumental role in this.

Analysis

This remake of 'Kanaa' (Tamil) knows how to elevate the mood with proper background music but doesn't quite understand how to play out the screenplay.  As a result, 'Kousalya Krishnamurthy' comes off as a rather mediocre drama whose well-intentioned story doesn't tick.

The entire first half can be tasted almost totally through the film's trailer.  The moment Rajendra Prasad enters the screen, you know what to expect from his character, and what its graph will be like.  This is not to say that his character is insubstantial.  He is still endearing and the audience may love him, the way they liked him in 'Srimanthudu' and Allari Naresh's pitiable character in 'Maharshi'.  

The father-daughter bonhomie is over-the-top, complete with the Nata Kireeti's melodramatic dialogues.  Jhansi is cast as the heroine's mother.  Her frustration with her daughter's madness for cricket should have been shown inventively.  A crucial scene involving her in the second half is very good, though.  

Aishwarya as Kousalya shows sparks of talent as a fledgling and amateur cricketer who goes on to become an expert.  Her equations with the male cricketers are portrayed smartly and there are quite a number of takeaways here.  As a lone fighter who carves time for herself to practice cricket amid grinding poverty, she proves to be a promising actress and her role is something to look up to.  The film does get dramatic with the entry of Sivakarthikeyan, although not consistently.  As a coach who knows how to spin magic and surprise the opponents, the Tamil actor looks cool.  

The problem with the cricketing segments is that they are, at times, too lazy.  There is a semblance of believability but the way the matches pan out is not really convincing.  Also, Kousalya should have been shown as brainy in a clear-cut fashion.

If you are for something different and not old fashioned dialogues, then the unexciting lines spoken by the characters can find you asking for more.  

Karthik Raju as a friend who secretly loves Kousalya actually looks like a villain, not as an innocent young man he is supposed to look like.  Mahesh Achanta's comedy is listless.  There was a good scope for the scenes involving Kousalya and her teammates to be spicy but the director frits away the opportunity.  Director Bhimineni Srinivas Rao plays a caricaturish bank manager who adds no value to the film.  Vennela Kishore is an over-excited comical cop.

Dhibu Ninan Thomas' songs may not have got proper justice on the screen but the music is actually winsome.  Andrews' cinematography for the village scenes is subpar. 

Bottomline:

If you are looking for a decent sports drama telling the story of a rare woman, go for this. 'KK' would be watchable with low expectations.