Kammara Sambhavam Review: An interesting satire with top-notch technical values!

The much hyped Kammara Sambhavam has finally hit screens today, as a Vishu release. Dileep and popular South Indian actor Siddharth play the lead roles in the movie. Ad filmmaker Rathish Ambat makes his directorial debut with this movie scripted by the multi-talented Murali Gopy. The posters and teasers were all highly promising, let’s see what the movie offers.

Kammara Sambhavam is a mix genre attempt. One cannot assign a particular genre to this film, which has periodic elements, mass-masala moments and a dose of political satire as well. The movie has an unusual script pattern with contrasting treatments for the two halves. The basic plot is based on a famous quote by Napoleon Bonaparte – “History is a set of lies agreed upon”.

Writer Murali Gopy has taken a leaf out of the current socio-political issues to showcase how history is being tweaked by political parties to bolster their image. Anything more about the plot will end up as spoilers, so I’m not going into it.

Dileep as Kammaran has given a commendable performance. It is an extremely challenging character with many layers and shades to it. But the actor has lived up to the challenges and has tried to bring on fore different styles of acting. Siddharth, who is making his Malayalam debut, was solid as always and his Malayalam pronunciation was very impressive. Among the supporting cast, Murali Gopy, Namita Pramod, Divyaprabha, Siddique and Shweta Menon did their parts well.

It is not easy to helm a movie of this scale, spanning different timelines but Rathish Ambat has shown no signs of a first time director. But the problem is with the writing. Like before, Murali Gopy has tried to infuse too many topics in a single subject and that does backfire at some instances. The latter half is narrated with black comedy or a tone of spoof, but chances are that it may not work with many.

Technically, Kammara Sambhavam is a quality product with high production values. Cinematography by Sunil KS is one of the standout elements in the movie. His frames mark the plot localities clearly and the war portions were shot remarkably well. Gopi Sunder’s ‘massy’ background score in the second half is adrenaline pumping but turns tedious after a while.

Overall, Kammara Sambhavam is an interesting film that touches a lot of topics within its 3 hr long runtime. A commendable effort by the makers for trying something unique. Dileep’s star power and the fact that its a holiday release will work for the movie at the box office.