Cast: Mohanlal, Suriya, Arya, Sayyeshaa and Boman Irani

Directed By: K V Anand

Special Protection Group officer has to identify the threat to the prime minister, who he is protecting, and also the nation. This plotline of the film you as an audience have seen in many Tamil films starring Vijaykanth and Arjun, these stars have mastered the genre.

But unlike the Vijayakant and Arjun films, which had a single-minded focus even when they managed to include the commercial must-haves of romance, songs, and comedy, Kaappaan keeps shifting from one thing to the next with less success, resulting in an often frustrating film. 

The first half fares relatively better as we get to see the various players involved and their motives (some evident, some hidden) – Anjali (Sayyeshaa), the press secretary whose father was a victim during the opening assassination attempt; Abhishek (Arya), the seemingly playful son of the PM; Mahadev (Boman Irani), the multi-millionaire who sort-of runs the government; Kathir’s SPG teammates (Samuthirakani, Prem, Kiran), one of whom could be a mole; and the mysterious assassin (Chirag Jani), who seems to have eyes everywhere.

Another problem with Kaappaan is it totally lacks dramatic tension. After a point, it is numbing to prepare for yet another situation orchestrated for the director’s convenience. The film’s narrative is insincere and defies logic. 

KV Anand fills his film with props, in his never-ending endeavor to create that elusive surreal ambiance. But the film has artificiality written all over. Everything looks synthetic: be it the way Mohanlal speaks, Suriya-Sayyeshaa romance and so on.

The film also stars the likes of Boman Irani, Samuthirakani, Poorna, and Uma Padmanabhan. But they all march in and out of the screen like a badly-staged school drama. You don’t understand their motives, and things take increasingly bizarre twists. 

We never truly get a sense of why things happen the way it happens on the screen. If you are there for Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, you are in for some serious heartbreak, trust me. Even a fine actor of his stature gets lost in a sloppily-structured film. This film is definitely a no, please skip it.