Kallan D’Souza review: Soubin Shahir’s comedy is let down by mediocre writing

2/5

Story: D'Souza (Soubin Shahir), a petty burglar runs into trouble with some corrupt cops, led by CI Manoj (Dileesh Pothan) and ends up falling for Asha (Surabhi Lakshmi), the police officer's wife, who is living an unhappy married life. While the policemen are trying to make equal shares of a large sum that they have captured, D’Souza, Asha and her mute daughter form a bond. 

Review: Where do we start with Soubin Shahir’s Kallan D’Souza? The movie is less than entertaining and often fails to make sense. The movie, which follows the life of D’Souza, a petty burglar who is introduced and gets his name after Dulquer Salmaan’s titular character in the 2015 movie Charlie. The movie kicks off with D’Souza, whose real name is mentioned to be Suni, and his fellow burglar friend, as they enter a house in the night, looking for a good night's work. Most of the movie goes downhill from here, with no real essence of the heart. 

As a subplot, there are a number of corrupt police officers, led by CI Manoj, who confiscate five crores worth of black money, following a tip, but intend to keep most of it. Though the introduction of the real owner of the money is made here, the intended “villain” turns out to be all dull and less than appealing with his presence in the story. He is adamant to get his money back, and if not, to ensure that the policemen don't get to keep it. While the villain and the policemen have their own game going on, our titular hero is now falling in love and starting to have a bond with Asha, who is the wife of the bad cop. 

D’Souza meets Asha for the first time while trying to get away from the cops chasing him, but keeps meeting her following this at other places. While their friendship starts to grow, the audience has more or less lost interest in the movie by this point. With several pointless emotional cues and dragging two equally uninteresting subplots, only for them to eventually come together, the movie ends up being a snoozefest. Kallan D’Souza walks a tightrope between an okay comedy and an overall poor movie. 

Trying to find a real positive in this movie is a difficult task. The writing is a big anchor, with it, often leaving loopholes in the plot or just being too obvious and lethargic. While the titular character’s roots stem from Dulquer Salmaan’s Charlie, there is only one mention about it in the duration of the movie, which again, is obvious and feels like it was written for a reaction from the audience. Dileesh Pothan as an abusive, short fuse husband and a corrupt cop and Surabhi Lakshmi as the unhappy wife were the two decent performers in the movie, but both of which again are nothing to write home about. 

Verdict: Kallan D’Souza is a comedy that lacks any real humour and gets lost in what they really wanted to do, with the two subplots. Even Soubin Shahir and Hareesh Kanaran with their bubbly acting can’t rescue this movie, which is anchored by less than a decent screenplay. But if you really enjoy an average comedy and love the lead star, this just might work for you.