Cheekati Rajyam Review

Cheekati Rajyam Review, What’s Behind: Every time if it’s a Kamal Hasan film, automatically there will be expectations to build. When Tamil version of this flick Thoonga Vanam fared well in Tamil Nadu, Telugu audience also predicted the same. With Rajesh as director, Kamal providing story, script and Ghibran scored the music, let us get further deep into ‘Cheekati Rajyam’ review.

Cheekati Rajyam Story: The simple plot unveils as Diwakar (Kamal Hasan), a cop from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and his colleague Mani (Yugi Sethu) run away with big bag of cocaine. Diwakar divorced with wife Sujata (Asha Sarath) lives with his only son Vasu (Aman Abdullah). Twist comes in the form of drug lord Vithal Rao (Prakash Raj) kidnapping Vasu and blackmailing Diwakar to surrender the seized cocaine bag. In parallel comes in two more officers Mallika (Trisha) and Kishore (Kishore) from NCB to crack the case. All of them converge at Insomnia pub where Vasu is held as hostage. 

Cheekati Rajyam Artists and Technicians: Cheekati Rajyam is largely an inspiration from French film Sleepless Night. Despite a fact that there is no exceptional storyline with a wafer thin element, Kamal’s screenplay does the trick. Story moves on at low pace with no sense of urgency. Direction wise, Rajesh took proper care in establishing a night pub atmosphere where the entire narrative unfolds. Major episodes are shot in kitchen or bar or dance floor with lots of chases going on. As geographical area to focus is very small, Sanu Varghese camera work is quite enough to receive applause. The genuine effort in this department is visible. Ghibran’s BGM and peculiar electric sounds are carefully woven elevating the mood. Shan Mohammad’s editing work is also crisp and cuspate. Dialogues were very few and just passable. Production values of Gokulam and Kamal Hasan, Chandra Hasan are notable.

Into performances, Kamal served life and soul. Right from first scene till the end, Kamal exhausts in a character with bullet struck in stomach. May it be fight sequences or emotions with son, wife or painful journey to trace son or the conversation with villains, Kamal is so flexible on a non-stop mission. Trisha has nothing much to offer in a low make-up role. She even has a fight with Kamal. While Kishore appears and disappears at regular intervals, Prakash Raj and Sampath Raj does very good job. Madhu Shalini is limited only for regulatory lip kisses which every Kamal film offers. Asha Sarath and Aman Abdullah were quite authentic. Rest is fine.

Cheekati Rajyam Rating Analysis: As the film runs on open screenplay mode with no big twists and turns en route, the weight was lying on Kamal just to hold on time with his awesome screen presence. Instead of a racy thriller, Cheekati Rajyam is a slow paced action thriller with missing of edge-of-the-seat moments. Having understood the danger of his son’s life at risk, Kamal sketches the plans at leisure pace with laggardly moving antagonists. 

What makes Cheekati Rajyam special is the simple premise shot within a very limited location without disturbing a flow. Though deliberate lip locks and forced episodes on Madhu Shalini as Nurse aren’t so necessary yet the progression of story keeps us alert and active. The way Kamal, Trisha, Kishore, Yugi, Prakash Raj and Sampath Raj remain on non-stop cat n mouse run needed strong instances to provide solidarity which is half acquired in this script.

After a racy first half, there are many scenes in second half dragged beyond the elastic limit and climax was also pulled unnecessarily. Despite all advantages and drawbacks, ‘Cheekati Rajyam’ is a far better movie from Kamal relative to many failure projects he has undertaken in recent times. So, Cinejosh rates Cheekati Rajyam with 2.75 stars for offering an above average action thriller.

Cheekati Rajyam Cinejosh Verdict: Slow Paced Action Thriller.

                                               Cheekati Rajyam Cinejosh Rating: 2.75/5.0

                                                                 Reviewed by Srivaas