King Of Kotha Review: Celebration Of Violence - They All Stood In Line To Get Killed, Then Most Died

Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Shabeer Kallarakkal, Dhruv Vikram, Prasanna, Gokul Suresh, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Saran Shakthi, Chemban Vinod Jose, Shammi Thilakan, Anikha Surendran, Nyla Usha, Shanthi Krishna

Director: Abhilash Joshiy
Writer: Abhilash N. Chandran

Abhilash Joshiey”s King of Kotha is a celebration of violence. After delivering critically and commercially successful films like Sita Ramam and Chup: Revenge of the Artist in 2022, Dulquer Salmaan”s first film release in 2023 is full of violence and follows the already tested formula of potboiler Tamil and Telugu films. The film revolves around the story of gangster Raju from Kotha and carries subplots of kinship, friendship, love, and revenge.

(Spoiler alert:) The film begins with the local police encountering Kannan, a gangster who rules the crime-infested town of Kotha. Kannan, like any other gangster, humiliates the police officer, and then the film goes on to narrate the story of a former gangster Raju who was Kannan”s friend (now turned foe). In a turn of events, the later part of the film sees Raju”s return and the revenge, partly plotted by the humiliated police officer.

What did you get from the plot? Yeah, it”s the same as most gangster movies you”re familiar with, where the hero comes back to protect his land or his people from a force that emerged after his departure. In this case, the land is Kotha, where the protagonist returns to take back his throne of “King of Kotha”.

If the narrative style of the film bores you, you can”t complain. It goes on and on and on. Even more boring is the feeling that in most of the film, the conversations give away the idea that all the villains who have ever appeared on the silver screen are in one place, talking all the same dialogues about power, control, obedience, and so on.

Dulquer Salmaan does not disappoint. He gives a good performance as an actor, delivering a class gangster who can cry, love, take revenge, and obviously, kill a lot of people. You may also see a resemblance in Dulquer”s acting with a “certain” megastar from Malayalam movies, whose latest gangster movie was Bheeshma Parvam. In short, actor Dulquer Salmaan has evolved, and the writer has given the “Guns & Gulaab” actor enough room to perform.

Shabeer Kallarakkal, who plays the antagonist role of Kannan, Raju”s friend turned foe, outperforms the hero at times, especially when portraying scenes involving trust and distrust.

The settings of the film do not give you any indication of where the story is taking place. A logical conclusion as to why the makers did this may be to reach a wider audience for Dulquer. You will see a lot of plot transformations, scenes, and dialogues similar to Tamil and Telugu films. The old man, the crowd, the elderly mother, the sister, and the police officer who is also a friend of the gangster hero… ring any bells? Yes, the film is made for the entire South Indian audience.

Dulquer fans will like the film.