When we reviewed one of Vishal's previous movies, titled Jayasurya, here is what we wrote:
"By the time Jayasurya ends, you'll actually feel sad for Vishal's entrapment. Because the second half of Jayasurya is quite nice. Nice enough to make you wonder what may have been if the first half hadn't been in Pandem Kodi mode (random comedy - loving family - terrible love story)."
We can just change "Jayasurya" to "Kathakali" in the above paragraph, and it would hold absolutely true. Kathakali has such a terrible first hour, you start looking around for something ....