Movie Review: Ko — Just another King

KV Anand impressed me with his Kana Kanden and it was a perfect launch pad for Prithiviraj in Tamil (Smiling Villainy) but Ayan was a mashup of a huge list of Hollywood movies. I was actually trying to identify each and every movie he copied the scenes from. Ko was different in the sense that it takes the string from a Russell Crowe movie “State of Play” and adapts it to the Indian political situation.

Ko is a story of a photo journalist Ashwin (Jeeva) who along with Senior Reporter Renuka (Karthika Nair) and Saraswathi (Piaa) from a daily try to take the efforts of a young political brigade Siragugal headed by Vasanthan (Ajmal). Different situations work around Siragugal and they try to compete the elections. In one of their meetings, a bomb blast happens and leads to a life loss of 30 people including Saraswathi killed by someone deliberately. Suspecting conspiracy, Ashwin tries to investigate and finds starkling truths about the bomb blast. (I shall leave the suspense intact)

I don’t deny Ko was an enjoyable watch and it’s because of the racy screenplay, which tactfully camouflages the logical loopholes of the movie. The other major plus is the performances of the lead actors. Jeeva sinks in perfectly in to his role while Piaa is a literal live-wire in the movie. The scene on which she expresses her love,angst and disappointment speaks lots about the talent she has. Ajmal was mind-blowing and in fact the real star of the movie. Karthika neither looks gorgeous nor acts. The supporting acts of Bose Venkat and Jagan are apt. After a long time, Peter Hein has made a wonderful stunt choreography, the final shoot out scene and Cinematography of Richard in songs are sexy but marred by the placement of the same.

But somehow Ko doesn’t work for me and it’s because of the blatant logical loopholes in the movie. The unwanted initial bank robbery scene, the mole in the newspaper office (is he a Naxalite or the politician’s hand), the doctor studying in Engineering college, senior and junior graduating together to name a few. The other reason being that I hate inspired story lines (except for a few) but I do accept KV Anand has done a decent job over it. The awkward placement of songs and even the most involved audience in the theatre sighed for most of the songs. If you have taken the songs in the most exotic locales, doesn’t mean that audience should bear the pain of watching it.

Harris Jayaraj is in one of his all time lows with only two songs catching your imagination (Special mention to Madhan Karky for Ennamo Yedho lyrics) and the background score lavishly borrows from Hollywood movies — never creates the necessary impact.

Ko seemed to me a safe masala bet without touching the heroism part. Somehow I don’t understand why it’s called a thriller when people can easily identify the real culprit. The camouflage is not fool proof.

I am going with a 2.5/5 and a one time watch for KV Anand’s Ko

P.S : The funda behind the title is Ko means King in Tamil and even KV Anand doesn’t know why he kept that name.