‘Nna Thaan Case Kodu’ movie review: An earnest Kunchacko Boban in a biting satire

Writer-director Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s organic humour works wonders despite an uneventful third act

Writing pages and pages of dialogues and managing to pull a joke out of every second or third line is hardly an easy task. Of the things that Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval has achieved in his third outing Nna, Thaan Case Kodu, the laughs that his lines evoke must be the most satisfying for him. The humour that these dialogues produce is quite organic, evolving out of a situation, a somewhat serious one that too.

Rajeevan (Kunchacko Boban), a reformed thief, has his honour and many other things at stake when he begins a legal battle over a pothole on the road in front of an MLA's house, which — according to him — led to a series of events that caused him not just physical injury, but branded him as a thief yet again. He has to prove his innocence to his live-in partner Devi (Gayathrie), and to the society around them. It is not an easy battle for him, for he is seeking to hold the state's public works minister responsible for the pothole. It is obviously a personal battle which has more than an element of public interest.

Director and screenwriter Ratheesh, who debuted with the delightful Android Kunjappan and followed it up with a not-so-effective Kanakam Kamini Kalaham, seems to have done quite some work on chiselling his material and creating a freely flowing narrative, and a timeline intelligently-marked with the changing petrol prices. Even the casting and other aspects of the film are designed to amuse the audience. For instance, an actor like Rajesh Madhavan is cast in a role that is meant to make us laugh.

Many of the new actors make their mark, be it the young police officer learning the ropes, another cop who is also a Theyyam performer, or a PWD engineer who wants to do the right thing at the fag end of his career. But none more so than P.P. Kunhikrishnan, who puts up an arresting performance as the upright magistrate whose attention wavers between the case at hand and the pigeons on the court windows. All these characters gel seamlessly with the local milieu in Kasargod, where the film is set in.

Kunchacko Boban has been upping his game for quite sometime, renewing his image in the process. Here, he outdoes himself with a performance that would rank among his best. After all, it is not easy for an accomplished dancer to act like someone who struggles to find his steps, and still be as impressive as Boban in the ‘Devadoothar Paadi’ song sequence.

The film, structured as a commoner’s unlikely-to-win battle, has him springing surprises in the court all along, but the story stops developing further after a point. The fact that the narrative still remains interesting has much to do with the script. It loses its easy pace only towards the end, by when it has already won over the audience. Nna, Thaan Case Kodu is a biting satire which coasts along on the strength of a humorous script and a set of earnest performances.

Nna, Thaan Case Kodu is currently running in theatres