It is perhaps easy to preach from a high tower about social issues than make a movie out of them that one can sit through. Samuthrakanni after a brief hiatus is back with his pet project “Appa” , believed to be a subject close to his heart.
The story is sure to touch an emotional chord. It has all the ingredients to make it a must watch. The story moves well till the first twenty minutes and it is then that the script and the screenplay go haywire. Message after message is thrown at the viewer and it gets tiresome after some point. Though the intention is laudable it’s the execution that the movie falters in. The melodrama can be over bearing at times with the focus shifting towards the functioning of schools and the right way of education. The documentary style of “Appa” does not help sustain the interest as well.
Samuthrakanni as the “Big Bear” who can do no wrong and the guardian of one and all is a little too much to digest. He does his bit. Thambi Ramaiah is loud and game in his character. The kids in the movie are a lot naïve and the women in the movie have very little to do in this “Appa” movie.
Ilayaraja’s BG score that could have helped camouflage the patchiness of the screenplay, but surprisingly worsens it. This is Isaignani at his worst. There are many scenes in the movie where the BG score is sorer than the scene itself. Editing too suffers because of many loose ends. Direction is just about average.
On the whole “Appa” could have been a lot better what it was intended to be but ends up more as a dramatic combination of messages, some interesting, and others a lot tiring. Ironically it is a movie that could cause a lot of discomfort for parents to take their kids. We have one more movie dedicated to K. Balachander and we have one more pretentious ode that does not work.
APPA = YAPPAAA!!
2.25/5
B.U.Shreesha
