When will the cinema theatres reopen? Hmm...tough question to answer especially with the number of active COVID cases surging like crazy. One of the last Malayalam movies to hit the screens just before the lockdown was Muhammad Musthafa's "Kappela". Since I dont recollect seeing it release in Bangalore, I had given it a miss & was reminded about it when my friend, Ranjith asked me to check it out when it released on Netflix close to three weeks back. Hence I had watched it but due to paucity of time never got to pen down my opinion about it. Well most of the people have praised the movie, so am I also part of that team???
Rains lashed heavily on the beautiful valleys of Poovaranmala as Jessy (Anna Ben) boarded the bus to Kozhikode to visit her lover, whom she had never met in person. So how exactly did they get acquainted in the first place? It all began coz of a wrong number that she had accidentally dialed, which happened to belong to Vishnu (Roshan Mathew), an auto driver. With time, through repeated interaction, they eventually fall for each other. At around the same time, she received an alliance from an affluent family in the locality & that spurs her to meet Vishnu hoping that she could lead a life that she dreamt of with him.
Directed & penned by Muhammad Musthafa, this is the directorial debut of the experienced National Award winning actor. He has chosen a topic that isn't out of the ordinary after all we have come across such news numerous times. However, the manner in which he builds up curiosity in the audience and the character arc that he has created for the lead characters (Vishnu & Roy) is commendable. His efforts was complimented by the excellent cinematography of Jimshi Khalid and Sushin Shyam's melodious tracks. But there are a couple of aspects likely to raise eyebrows in atleast a few & that is with regard to the message that it conveys. These include possible 'stalking' of Vishnu shown as rather normal, kind of 'moral policing' by Roy (though I feel that gets negated by the climax', 'patriachal' family where the girls are shown to have not much of a voice & when they do decide to take a decision independently, it could turn out to be wrong. Well I'm not going to harp about it, as it didn't affect my viewing experience at all.
Before talking about the individual performances, kudos to Mushtafa for his choice of artists as each one of them have done justice to their roles. It's not so often that an actress especially a beginner manage to do meaningful roles in a row & Anna Ben has been lucky with that. As in her previous movies, she was a perfect fit as Jessy whose innocence and twinkle in the eyes makes it endearing to us. Roshan has slowly and steadily made people to take notice of him with earnest performances while Sreenath Bhasi deserves praise for his fine act that has been coming at a consistent frequency in recent times. As for the rest, Nilja Baby was really good while Sudhi Koppa, Nisha Sarang, Navas Vallikunnu did their parts aptly.
Verdict: Musthafa has created a well intentioned and honest movie that captures a slice of life which isn't unknown to any of us. It is unfortunate that he couldn't showcase it on the 70mm screen but to be frank, how often do such movies manage to run without being held over for some other big banner movies. So in that respect, it's great that it was released in Netflix & garnered predominantly positive responses from most quarters. As for me, both the performances and the story appealed to me and if you haven't watched it, don't miss it!!!
Rating: 3.25/5
Regards...Ben
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