BOTTOM LINE
Generic, Boring Gangster Tale
PLATFORM
ZEE5
RUNTIME
2Hrs 35Mins
What Is the Film About?
After a Mangalore plane crash, cousins Azi and Chemmu leave prison and join Roy, a mentor who turns their passport forgery trade into a high-tech criminal empire under kingpin Dammanna. As the NBI closes in, their wealth attracts greed. When the law strikes and Dammanna vanishes, the cousins are left abandoned, forced to face the repercussions of their dismantled life amidst a national crisis.
Performances
The acting is generally raw and surface-level in most situations. Abu Salim and Govind Pai make a reasonable impression as Azi and Chemmu through their cheery, happy-go-lucky camaraderie, with their innocence helping the portrayal considerably. Rony David and Sudheesh, playing Roy and Razak, are strictly okay. Deepak Parambol and Dinesh Prabhakar are somewhat better, with their poised, controlled performances. Kabir Duhan Singh struggles to bring anything novel to the persona of a big-time don.
Analysis
Kasaragod Embassy is an ordinary gangster saga where two cousins, on the cusp of adulthood, turn to petty crime and various kinds of forgery in a bid to escape poverty and the clutches of their controlling uncle. What starts as an adventure to make easy money and stare at a possibly hopeful future invites unnecessary trouble into their lives, with the men in uniform inching closer to cracking down on the gangster nexus.
There are three dimensions through which the story unravels. The director Atish Nair first taps into the mundane routine of the playful cousins Azi and Chemmu, who feel overworked and underpaid while working under their uncle. Their mother repeatedly cautions the cousins to stay within their limits and be content with whatever little they earn, though the youngsters opine they deserve a better share of the pie.
While the duo escapes their uncle’s clutches, their lives are guided by a shrewd mentor, Roy. Meanwhile, officials from the NBI and the police piece together clues to find the kingpin of the underworld empire and nab one small fish after the other, outsmarting the goons. On the other hand, Raja and Pinto are desperate to earn the approval of their mafia baron Dammanna and wield their influence in the business.
Except for the dimension of two vulnerable youngsters finding their way in the big-bad world, who bite more than they can chew and struggle to find a way out of the mess, there is hardly anything arresting about the entire setup. The story works best in the initial phases, where the inner workings of the forgery trade are established, with focus on the fake passport racket and how it is guarded well from the public eye.
When the stakes rise and the attention shifts to the empire of a gangster, the freshness in the veneer is all lost. Like a typical mafia story, every second goon has an eye on the throne; the internal bickering and politics within the gangs pull them down, while the men do what it takes to escape the eyes of the authorities. The officers, while trying to do their job, exercise caution when dealing with the youngsters.
The show regains lost ground in the last set of episodes with the cautionary approach of the authorities in a tentative situation, looking at the lives of the youngsters with a sense of empathy and targeting the big picture instead. The scene where Azi and Chemmu talk it out about their contrasting plans for their future strikes a chord because you see how the cousins genuinely care for one another.
The seven-episode series falters most because of the lack of conviction in the filmmaking and the absence of strong, compelling characters. Beyond the cousins, most characters are derivative, merely chasing their own benefits and going ahead with the power games. The writing lacks any layers, and the absence of any nuance or attention to detail in the ambience hurts its cause.
Kasaragod Embassy is a not-so-novel gangster drama devoid of silver linings, drama, or impressive action. The effort is quite casual and amateurish for a major part, lacking in depth and technical appeal.
Music and Other Departments?
On the technical front, Kasaragod Embassy does not garner attention. Ratheesh Vega’s background score, as basic as it gets, succeeds in being invisible to an extent while not exaggerating the proceedings with anything bombastic. There is not much that the cinematographer Rajeesh Raman does to add any new dimension to the story through the visuals. The action sequences are a snooze-fest, the editing is all over the place, and the narrative is an incoherent mess.
Highlights?
The story of the cousins Azi and Chemmu
Initial portions, pre-climax segment
Drawbacks?
Casual execution, dull action
Nothing novel in the writing/characterisation
Hardly any technical appeal
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
Not at all
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