Spoilers ahead…
The stage is set for a compelling drama punctuated by bursts of action. But what we end up with is a generic slo-mo action movie with occasional bursts of drama.
Would you believe me if I said that the most affecting character in Abhilash Joshiy’s King of Kotha is a cat? It has been adopted by an elderly lady whose family has thrown her out, and it gives her what humans won’t: a sense of companionship, a sense of not being alone, a sense of having someone to care for. The first time I saw a close-up of this creature, I wondered why we needed this specific visual. But much later, we get the payoff, and it’s a brilliant bit of masala-film writing. It ties into the bond between this elderly woman and this cat, and you see how the animal has come to mean more to her than even the humans who still love her. This lady is one of the many “victims” in the imaginary city of Kotha, which is now a den of vice, ruled by a gangster named Kannan Bhai (and played with lip-smacking flourish by Shabeer Kallarakkal, the Dancing Rose of Sarpatta Parambarai).
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/malayalam/movie/review/king-of-kotha/
And you can watch the trailer / video review here:
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