Kuppathu Raja Movie Review: Run-of-the-mill Story Bogs Down This Commercial Entertainer

GV Prakash Kumar has transformed himself more into an actor now than a music director with a string of movies hitting theatres. The latest movie in the offering is director Baba Bhaskar's Kuppathu Raja.

Story

As the title suggests and sums the entire flick, the plot is centric towards a certain slum and the lives of the dwellers. The slum is kind of being taken care by a do-gooder called MG Rajendran (Parthiban) who has a team of five members. MG Rajendran is a fan of MGR and hence, runs his life with certain values of the former star.

Rajendran is backed by a trustworthy aide MS Bhaskar and his son, Rocket (GV Prakash). GV is a fierce and dynamic youngster who spears and marches ahead come what may. He falls in love with Kamala (Palak Lalwani) which becomes a two-way street.

However, the lives of Rocket and Kamala change when Mary (Poonam Bajwa), another slum resident enters the scene. Certain level of anti-social elements take place in the slum which creates quite some unrest.

What are those issues? Who are behind them? How does MG Rajendran and Rocket tackle the issue? All these form the rest of the plot.

Pros

Performances by Parthiban and MS Bhaskar
Cinematography
BGM

Cons

Music
GV Prakash Kumar
Comedy
Screenplay

Performances

Though GV Prakash isn't bad in general and during the scenes with the heroine, he looks oddly unconvincing when he turns into the rebellious protagonist. His physique, body language and overall rendition seem a letdown. Palak is good while Poonam Bajwa has done a neat job with quite a good role.
Parthiban is at his usual best and MS Bhaskar once again satisfies the audience with his top-notch performance.

Yogi Babu doesn't impress with his comedy sense or dialogues in this flick. It isn't Yogi's issue but that of the writer.

Technical Aspects

Baba Bhaskar's story, screenplay is just average as it is just another safe route and attempt by the director to make a commercial flick. The second half looks a bit messy and could have been better.
Art direction is good as it gives the feel of a real slum ably complementing the cinematography by Mahesh Muthuswami. Music is below average as no songs linger in the minds of the audience. However, the background music is appealing to a certain extent.

Final Verdict

Kuppathu Raja isn't everyone's cup of tea and might just appeal to a certain section of the audience who would be ok with the movie's genre.