GATTA KUSTHI (2022)
Critic No. 304
Director: Chella Ayyavu
Written by: Chella Ayyavu
Produced by: RT Team Works, VV Studioz
Casts: Vishnu Vishal, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Karunas, Sreeja Ravi, Munishkanth, Kaali Venkat, Redin Kingsley
Music: Justin Prabhakaran
Language: Tamil
Genre: Comedy, Drama
SYNOPSIS:
When wrestling champ Keerthi (Aishwarya Lekshmi) enters an arranged marriage with a chauvinistic Veera (Vishnu Vishal), she scrambles to be a traditional wife while hiding her true self.
REVIEW:
The first thing the film stuck me with was its heavy flavor and tropes of 90s village dramas about a protagonist seeking his perfect partner who is homely and feminine. The male lead who is boosting is male ego by involving into ‘katta panchayat’ fights while killing his time riding his bike. There is the hero's mama who constantly reminds him that men are made to overpower women and a stock villain who struts around with his henchmen. We even have a first-night scene and a drinking scene where liquor is poured into tender coconut. All these come as a strong nod to yesteryear films like Sundar C’s ‘Maaman Magal (1995)’ for instance.
However, director Chella brilliantly subverts from these tropes and gradually introduces refreshing turns that gives continuous knockout punches to the male chauvinistic population in India who thinks that sports is for men and women are born to serve the male population. We cannot deny that only very few movies in India have lead actresses shining in fight scenes which are sadly still seen as a ego boosting or glorifying tool for male stars. Even when a film labels a woman as lioness in a film, the male star will eventually have to save them at the end.
In ‘Gatta Kusthi’ Chella breaks this entire (nonsensical) template with Aishwarya having a few action set pieces with a bang on pre-interval scene that shows how a woman can be eventually stronger than a man or an actress can overpower the main actor in fights that have always been seen as a actor’s arena. She is perfect and looks so confident in each scene and no doubt this will be an important film in her rapidly growing career.
Chella also kind of introduces caricaturist villains in his film that somehow make me feel that is another way to show how the man vs man world is ridiculously over exaggerated and the women in the film are the only rooted/sane people in the film’s world. This also results in Chella slipping into a melodramatic arena at the end with a very cliché climax revelation. And one thing if I feel that bothers me the most is Keerthi's attraction towards Veera starting from the initial part of the films.
Vishnu Vishal has to be commended for not only acting in this film but coming forth to produce this. The galore of comedians such as Munishkath, Kaali Venkat and Karunas are perfect and the jokes keep coming from start to finish. Redin Kingsley steals many scenes in the second half with his brief but effective appearance. Justin Prabhakaran comes up with some fun numbers that accentuates the existing fun writing of Chella.
VERDICT:
‘Gatta Kusthi’ is a rib-tickling, mad fun comedy about gender politics, spinning an interesting twist on feminism with a towering performance from Aishwarya Lekshmi.
CELLULOID METER- 3.5/5:
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