Kappela: The good, the bad and the ugly

Would you be comfortable in forming a relationship with a person on the other end of the call whom you wrongly dialled? Well, I wouldn’t be. And so is Jessi, played by Anna Ben, from Kappela. At least initially.

Kappela, directed by Muhammed Musthafa, is a story about two people bonding over an accidental phone call. That is the non-spoiler summary of the film. Jessi, hailing from a strict, conservative and poor family, dials a wrong number while trying to make a call. On the other end of the call is Vishnu, an auto-driver, played by Roshon Mathew.

A poster of Kappela.

Jessi resides in a village in Kerala with her father, mother and a younger sister. Her father is incredibly strict. In one particular scene, we can see the father chasing Jessi’s sister on the road because she was with an older boy from another school. At this point, we are concerned more for Jessi because she has already formed a relationship with a person whom she has never met.

After the initial denial of not wanting to form a relationship, Jessi slowly starts having conversations. Earlier in the film, we are given a glimpse of an old man writing letters to a woman. This is more of a hint about the kind of relationship that’s going to evolve between Jessi and Vishnu.

For Jessi, this relationship is an escape or a stairway to freedom. Even though she’s never vocal about it, Jessi is a caged bird. She occasionally visits the nearest town. Except for that, she’s always home. She’s fond of the beach. Maybe because of its vastness and space. At the other end is Vishnu. Vishnu is the ideal guy. He works hard to take care of his sisters. He helps people, and people genuinely think good about him.

Jessi does not have a smartphone. So, the relationship between Jessi and Vishnu is only through SMS and phone calls. Phones play a crucial role in the relationship. Jessi and Vishnu develop a relationship without even knowing how the other person looks. Them meeting for the first time at a bus stop in a town is the point we have all been waiting for.

And at this point enters another character, Roy. Roy, played by Sreenath Bhasi, is the very opposite of Vishnu. Roy is someone who considers chain-snatching as a career. He’s the jobless chain-smoker who finds means to borrow money from his girlfriend, only to buy a bottle of alcohol. He even indulges in violence. He disrupts the cute relationship between Jessi and Vishnu.

The film questions our views and opinions on the character of an ideal person. Who is the ideal? Why do we associate certain traits as good and the rest as bad? All this is beautifully captured by the cinematographer Jimshi Khalid. The ever-present images of Jesus in the background is the one to look out for. The film is also edited crisply. Director, Muhammad Musthafa, and editor, Noufal Abdullah, make good use of all the 113 minutes of the film. Nothing feels unnecessary. The film moves at a fast pace but it also knows where to slow down.

Except for feeling cheated at a point of time and for a couple of scenes towards the end, nothing else bothered me. And I’m sure not everyone would feel cheated or have a problem with it. I certainly did. Exploring such a theme does mean that it's like walking on a double-edged sword. I could predict what was about to happen after a revelation towards the end. Until then it did keep me hooked onto my screen.

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