Ko (2011)

English translation: King
Director: K.V. Anand
Story: K.V. Anand, Subha
Cast: Jiiva, Karthika Nair, Ajmal Ameer
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Time: 165 minutes
Bottom-line: Excellent political thriller 

   One of the few recent films in Tamil to be a critical success and run in the theatres for over 175 days, K.V. Anand’s Ko is a brilliant fast-paced political thriller. Starring Jiiva (in what may be his best film till date), Karthika Nair, Piaa Bajpai and Ajmal Ameer in the lead roles, this film tells the story of the events taking place before a Chief Minister election in Tamil Nadu.

Ashwin (Jiiva), an energetic photojournalist, manages to capture photos of a Naxalite group robbing a bank. The group leader’s face, however, is covered with a mask (significance is known later). He works for the newspaper Dina Anjal, where a new Article Editor, Renuka (Nair), has joined. Another employee, Saraswathi (Piaa Bajpai) loves Ashwin, but he doesn’t love her. Enter Vasanthan (Ajmal), a recent graduate and engineer, who is contesting in the elections to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. His party members are all similar engineers, and none of them are experienced politicians. Meanwhile, another contestant, Aalavandhan tries to win majority using corrupt methods. The current Chief Minister is Yogeswaran (Prakash Raj). As the story goes on, the competition between Vasanthan, Aalavandhan and Yogeshwaran increases. The rest of the film is about which of them manages to win the election. Meanwhile, Ashwin uncovers some explosive secrets, and suddenly no one is who they seem to be…

Jiiva as Ashwin

The main themes in the story are the power of the media, and the different ways in which people compete in an election. In Ko, we see three categories of contestants: the current chief minister (who should also compete to get elected again), a contestant trying to win by corrupt methods, and an honest contestant. In the aspect of portraying their struggle for power, the film is very realistic. Then about the media: from the first scene of the bank robbery, we see how powerful the media can be. A single photo can spread nation-wide and spread news instantaneously. Along the film, the scene where Ashwin goes to the forest to take photos, the scene where Vasanthan holds the election campaign and many other scenes also bring out the media’s importance.

Karthika as Renuka

The story is quite fast-paced, with periodical twists and turns. There are a few masala aspects here and there, which however do not deter the main plot much. The song Enamo Aedho is quite good, with exotic locales and a nice tune, but none of the other songs are good. These songs, along with some other scenes, could have been cut, shortening the film by about 15 minutes or so. The twists are excellent, and few are very much unexpected. The ending is a debatable aspect, and I, for one, found it fairly believable. Ashwin and Renuka have conflicting opinions on a major issue, and one decision prevails. Whether this decision is right or not can be decided by the viewers.

Ajmal as Vasanthan

Jiiva’s acting is superb. Karthika Nair has also acted well. Piaa Bajpai’s role is important only for one particular scene, but her character and acting are otherwise useless. Ajmal Ameer has done a great job as Vasanthan, and his character is also the best one in the film. Kota Srinivasa Rao (Aalavandhan) and Prakash Raj (Yogeswaran) have done a good job in the supporting roles.

To conclude, K.V. Anand’s Ko is an enjoyable film, which also takes a realistic look at the election process in Tamil Nadu. A great story (whose ending is debatable) that is rarely offbeat, plenty of twists and turns and good acting make this film a good political thriller, and along with Payanam is my pick among 2011 films. Despite the usual masala elements, Ko has enough material in its story to score over other Tamil masala films.

My Rating: 4/5