Kasaba

Synopsis: Circle Inspector Rajan Zakariah gets himself a transfer to a village in Kerala-Karnataka border to investigate the death of his superior’s son. Linked with the cast is the murder of another police officer. Zakariah’s ensuing investigation is the plot of Kasaba.

Review: Mammootty’s not new to donning khakis, he’s played a cop 27 times in his career and every time, brought in a certain amount gravitas to the role. His role as CI Rajan Zakariah in Nithin Renji Panicker’s debut directorial too has enough in it to show how versatile Mammootty can be while playing a police officer.

Zakariah is a cocky, middle-aged, machismo-oozing cop who gets himself a transfer to Kalipuram to investigate the death his superior’s son who gets killed during a bomb attack on an ambulance carrying the corpse of a police officer. The dead cop is a suspect for committing another murder of a college professor. Zakariah’s investigation crosses paths with a don-turned-politician and a head of a brothel. How are each death connected and the motives behind the cover up form the plot.

Nithin, who has scripted and directed the film gets credit for keeping the movie taut and engaging. The first half is filled with solid punch lines that are suavely delivered by Mammootty. The fire though is doused fast after the culprits and their intentions are revealed later into the second half. After that the movie loses steam and the last 20 minutes doesn’t pack a similar punch.

Mammootty carries off the role with panache – when he’s not being the butch, cigarette-popping cop; his silver tongue does half the mincing of the bad guys and his thumping kicks take care of the rest. Kasaba is a Mammootty movie that reminds you of the actor in movies such as Black and Roudram.

Sampath as goon-turned-politician Nambiar gets an extended screen time to showcase his acting chops while Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has done justice to her meaty role as Kamala, who runs a brothel. Jagadish, Maqbool Salmaan and Neha Saxena play their supporting roles well.
Rahul Raj’s music perfectly complements the movie while cinematographer Sameer Haq’s kept his frames tight enough for Mammootty to steal the show for most part with his gait and smarts. Kasaba is a welcome throwback to Mammootty’s cop roles and has enough moments to keep the audience entertained.