Contessa

Contessa Story: Chandu gets employed by Jayan, who is a local sand miner. He earns Jayan’s trust quickly, but certain things were waiting to go wrong as well and thus begins the cat-and-mouse game.

Contessa Review: Contessa starts off with a few frames that throw you back into the Angamaly Diaries mode. Those scenes in which the the frail-yet-fiery Appani Sarath lights up the screen with his raw energy and intense gaze are lined up quite a few times. The swagger and charisma of the actor are as intact as they were and with some Kollywoodesque treatment, Contessa raises a bit of expectations in the beginning.

Chandu (Appani Sarath) is roped in by a much-feared sand miner Jayan (Sreejith Ravi), to work with him. He proves his skills in no time and even wins the hearts of Jayan’s daughter. The story takes a turn when someone tries to play a dirty game at the expense of the other.

Shaking a leg amid the sand hills in the most rustic avatar like a Tamil hero, convincingly portraying a man who outsmarts his cunning employer and beating up the baddies, Appani Sarath is great on screen. He has what it takes to serve machismo on screen but the film fails when it tries to ride solely on that, without an engaging story. It mostly gives the feeling of a been-there-seen-that tale and though there is an effort to be different here and there, those sequences, like the climax, aren’t as hard-hitting as they are supposed to be. The petty tit-for-tat vendettas, the BGMs that back them and start feeling silly too in no time.

Apart from Sarath and probably Sreejith, there isn’t any room for other actors to even try to give their best. Even with the less than 2 hours run time, it feels a bit too long at times. Overall, Contessa doesn’t pack enough thrill and spill that you would expect from a movie of the genre and is only worth the watch if all you care about is watching Appani Sarath in action.