Kapatadhaari Review: A middling whodunit

What’s it about?

The life of a traffic cop doesn’t change much. The daily routine remains the same. When Gowtam (Sumanth), a traffic S.I, wanting to move out from this mundane job to a more exciting crime department, he stumbles upon an intriguing incident. Skeletal remains of three persons at under-construction flyover are discovered where he was controlling the traffic. His sixth sense tells him a bigger story is behind it.

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As he starts digging the case, he comes to know about a murder that took place nearly four decades ago in Warangal. He also meets a retired police officer (Nasser) who investigated this murder and a crime journalist (JP) in this process. Will Gowtam succeed in solving this case?

Analysis

Whodunit thrillers are always exciting. But they are also tricky to handle. A case in point is ‘Kapatadhaari’. The film is an official remake of the Kannada thriller named ‘Kavaludaari’, and it has an interesting premise: a traffic cop taking up a mission to solve an unsolved murder mystery.

We have seen murder stories with a detective or a regular police officer or a common citizen as the protagonist solving them. A traffic cop stepping in their shoes is a novelty. Despite this newness and focussed look, the film suffers from the uneven narration. It begins on a dull note and goes on an uninteresting manner until the interval saving it. Luckily, the film turns engaging post-interval. The final portion has some twists and turns required for a whodunit to hold our interest.

The tension is built in the penultimate sequences quite well. But, ‘Kapatadhaari’ has many issues to talk about, the main being the trite narration. 

Talking about performances, Sumanth as the protagonist is just okay. But we feel a much younger actor would have suited better for this role. The characterization of Suman Ranganathan, which is central to the whole drama, is written poorly. Her performance is also jarring. The performances of senior actors JP and Nasser are the brighter side of this film. Nandita appears in a guest role.  

The real ‘hero’ of the film, however, is Simon K King, whose background score is quite effective. Even when the narration is not engaging, he has put in his best. The cinematography is neat.

Bottom-line: ‘Kapatadhaari’ is a middling thriller. Although the final portions in the film do work, the narration lacks tautness.

By: Jalapathy Gudelli

Rating: 2.5/5

Film: Kapatadhaari
Banner: Creative Entertainers & Distributors
Cast: Sumanth, Nandita Swetha, Nasser, JP, Vennela Kishore
Music: Simon K King
Cinematography: Rasamathi
Editor: KL Praveen
Producers: Lalitha Dhananjayan & G Dhananjayan
Written and Direction: Pradeep Krishnamoorthy
Release Date: Feb 19, 2021

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What’s it about?The life of a traffic cop doesn’t change much. The daily routine remains the same. When Gowtam (Sumanth), a traffic S.I, wanting to move out from this mundane job to a more exciting crime department, he stumbles upon an intriguing incident. Skeletal...Kapatadhaari Review: A middling whodunit