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Kudi Yedamaithe Review: A fantasy crime thriller that should have explored its immense possibilities fully
What is winsome about the series is that it is packed with able performances. Amala Paul, Rahul Vijay, Ravi Prakash and others are apt.
Title: Kudi Yedamaithe
Cast: Rahul Vijay, Amala Paul, and others
Director: Pawan Kumar
Rating: 2.5/5
Writer Ram Vignesh uses the plot device of the Temporal loop to narrate a fantasy crime thriller. At eight episodes, 'Kudi Yedamaithe' (streaming on Aha) turns out to be bloated, especially because Durga (Amala Paul as a lonely cop investigating a series of kidnappings) and Aadhi (Rahul Vijay as a delivery boy living with a pang of guilt for the past three months) don't seem to get smarter and faster as the one recurring day (February 29, 2020) gets stubborn. The viewer is saddled with a set of questions about the latent possibilities presenting themselves to the duo. Had director Pawan Kumar (of Sandalwood's 'Lucia' and 'U Turn' fame) answered those questions more unambiguously, this series would have been a thorough winner.
Aadhi is not just a delivery boy at a food aggregator but is also an aspiring actor. He auditions for a role where a character keeps saying, "Time waste cheyakunda em cheppali anukunnavo cheppu ('Come to the point without wasting my time')." This line could well be the audience's inner voice while watching the middle portions of this over-long series. The drama doesn't cut to chase and that's the biggest issue with it. At about 270 minutes, 'Kudi Yedamaithe' doesn't mind repeating itself too often.
Durga hallucinates the existence of her dead boyfriend. Aadhi is guilty about a tragedy. While mental trauma is common between the two protagonists, nothing else is an overlap. Therefore, Durga should have reacted differently to the events triggered by the time loop; she should have been far more agile in working her way around the surreal state of affairs. This is pertinent especially because she doesn't behave like a deer caught in the floodlights. She is even over-confident at times. Unlike the meek and anxious Aadhi, she looks somewhat relaxed in the initial segments.
The narration doesn't give the audience a thorough grip on the turn of events. At one point in time, we sense that Aadhi can change the sequence of events not only in his life but also in the lives of others. Why then does he have to do some of the inconsequential things that he days in the loop?
The flaws would have meant nothing had the narration handled these two aspects deftly: 1. The police procedural should have been exciting. This would have ensued had the crime at the centre of the plot been edgy and darker. We wait forever for the kidnapper's thread to be prised open. We want it to be more ominous than it already is. 2. The emotional tumult undergone by Durga and Aadhi should have been catastrophic. Watch Durga telling her colleague what she has been facing repeatedly. It is too light and we feel the stakes are not high for her.
You don't have to hide that you were witness to a murder when the biggest trouble that you are facing is an inexplicable and existential crisis. In any case, even the worst lasts only a day for you, so why bother? We also don't understand whether the characters are behaving rationally all the time after fathoming the complexity of the situation they are in.
What is winsome about the series is that it is packed with able performances. Amala Paul, Rahul Vijay, Ravi Prakash and others are apt. Poornachandra Tejaswi SV's background music and Advaitha Gurumurthy's cinematography are fine, elevating whole scenes with their technique.
