Kara Review: Dhanush Anchors a Flawed Heist-Thriller

Kara had the makings of a fine heist thriller anchored by a superlative Dhanush, but a slack screenplay in crucial stretches and an overdose of melodrama ensure it only works in patches, observes Sreeju Sudhakaran.

I suppose Kara makes it back-to-back Tamil outings for Dhanush, alongside Idly Kadai, where his character distances himself from his father’s livelihood, leaves his hometown, only to return and inevitably reconnect with his father’s vision.

It is also the third consecutive film, including Tere Ishk Mein, where the father’s death is used to drive emotional weight in the screenplay.

Which does make you wonder, are writers running out of fresh ways to shape a hero’s arc?

What’s The Plot of Kara?

Kara is directed by Vignesh Raja, who previously delivered the gripping Por Thozhil. While his debut was an investigative thriller, this time he shifts gears to a rural heist drama with a social undercurrent.

Karasaami, or Kara (Dhanush), is a former thief working at a canteen in a village in Andhra Pradesh with his wife Selli (Mamitha Baiju).

Wanting to spare her hardship, he dreams of starting his own canteen. When the bank demands collateral, Kara returns to the hometown he fled at 16, hoping to sell his ancestral land. Instead, he discovers that his father Kandhasaami (KS Ravikumar) has already mortgaged it to buy a tractor and is now struggling to repay the loan.

Pushed into a corner, Kara reverts to his old ways and plots to rob the very bank that is threatening their land. He is aided in this endeavour by his uncle Kasi Maayan (Karunas) and his friend Murugesan (Prithvi Rajan).

Kara‘s Heavy-Handed Motivations

Kara is set in the early 1990s against the backdrop of the Gulf War, with the period serving both convenience and context.

Convenient, because the absence of CCTV surveillance and smartphones makes the heist scenes logistically simpler for the hero compared to present times. Or he could simply be a hacker. 

Contextual, because the film attempts to underline how global conflicts ripple into local economies, particularly affecting farmers and the working class. It is a thematic thread that feels especially relevant today what with the US-Israel and Iran skirmish bringing more crises to India.

For a heist film to work, the protagonist’s motivations must carry emotional weight. Kara offers two such anchors.

The first is systemic, highlighting the exploitation of farmers by financial institutions. While familiar territory, it remains effective due to its persistent relevance. A scene in the second half, where Kara visits an elderly farmer and realises his struggle is far from unique, reinforces this arc well. 

The second is more personal, centred on Kara’s relationship with his father. While this adds emotional heft, it also introduces a degree of excess sentimentality that drags the first act.

KS Ravikumar’s character follows a somewhat predictable trajectory, existing largely to propel Kara’s rebellion, and the film only truly gathers momentum once that arc is fulfilled.

The turning point arrives when Kara and his uncle meets the scheming bank manager Muthuselvan (Jayaram), which becomes the motivation for the protagonist.

A Gripping Pre-Interval Sequence

The opening act, featuring a botched robbery and the first encounter between Kara and his future nemesis, DSP Bharathan (Suraj Venjaramoodu), gives the film a solid start. However, it takes a while for Kara to regain that momentum, with the family melodrama the movie slowing down before it arrives at the pivotal stretch involving Muthuselvan.

Kara and his uncle mapping out potential targets effectively establish the limitations of the hero’s skills and the challenges he must navigate. The first bank robbery, which leads into the interval, is genuinely tense and holds your attention throughout.

From here, Kara leans into its thriller core, building on a race-against-time dynamic introduced earlier. The return of Bharathan, coupled with Muthuselvan’s subsequent interactions with Kara, adds further layers of tension, even as Kara is pushed into planning more heists.

GV Prakash Kumar’s background score significantly elevates these sequences.

A Screenplay That Keeps Loosing Its Grip

So why doesn’t the film fully land?

Because for all the tension the film tries to generate, the writing (screenplay by Vignesh Raja and Alfred Prakash) isn’t tight enough to justify the loopholes that make these moments possible.

Take the pre-interval sequence, easily Kara’s most gripping stretch. The presence of a policeman ends up creating a glaring plot hole later. Sure, we are told he is on leave for a week, but how is he unaware that a robbery has occurred in his own precinct? And why doesn’t Bharathan question him, given that he is the only one who has seen the robber’s face?

There are several such convenient beats built around the protagonist. The lodge sequence, where Kara effortlessly figures out who has the money, feels overly simplistic. The injection of family melodrama in the pre-climax further slows down the pace the film works hard to establish from the interval onwards.

There are promising ideas in the screenplay, such as the inclusion of a popular film shoot that neatly feeds into Kara’s plan, even featuring a fleeting cameo. However, the staging that follows, including a sequence where Kara hijacks a moving vehicle, lacks conviction and undermines the tension it aims to create. It feels engineered primarily to hand Dhanush a crowd-pleasing action beat.

The third act, in particular, plays far too loose with its own stakes. The antagonists seem inexplicably oblivious, allowing the hero to push ahead almost unchallenged. The logistics of his mission feel overly convenient, making you question how he pulls it all off within such a tight time frame, even as you root for him.

And when you think it is done and over, the film adds an unnecessary stretch of sermonising, when the point has already been made, along with a major character making a rather convenient turnaround. Ultimately, this whole climax lacks the required punch and wraps up a bit too neatly in the protagonist’s favour.

That is what makes Kara frustrating for its lack of a strong grip.

There is genuine promise here, and several moments that truly work.

The Performances 

And then there is Dhanush.

While this may not be as towering a performance as in Asuran or Karnan, he anchors the film with conviction, conveying the character’s anguish with ease and carrying the film through both its high-charged heist scenes and the emotional moments.

I only wish the film had leaned more into the greyer shades hinted at early on, where his selfish streak briefly surfaces, before it is eventually lost in the emotional weight of appan paasam.

Next to Dhanush, it is Suraj Venjaramoodu who leaves the strongest impression as the opportunistic cop. While not a conventional antagonist, Bharathan’s obsession with catching his old foe gives the character a captivating edge. The film sets him up as sharp and calculating, though that edge is somewhat diluted in the climax to elevate the hero.

That said, Suraj is riveting, especially in moments where Bharathan is quietly piecing things together. His expressions alone convey the character’s confusion, suspicion and the gears turning as he plots his next move.

Jayaram is effective in a role with negative shades, even if the treatment could have allowed for more subtlety. His introductory scene, where he coldly explains the hidden charges in loan disbursement, sets the tone for a character that remains consistently nefarious.

Mamitha Baiju, unfortunately, has very little to do with her character largely sidelined, apart from a key confrontation with her husband that she performs well.

Karunas has a well-etched supporting role and does it justice.

KS Ravikumar brings the required melodramatic weight to his part, though his performance feels slightly mechanical in places.

Kara had the makings of a fine heist thriller anchored by a superlative Dhanush, but a slack screenplay in crucial stretches and an overdose of melodrama ensure it only works in patches.

Kara Review Rediff Rating: