Rating: 1.5/5
Banners: Karan C Productions, Sree Venkateswara Cinemas
Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Divyansha Kaushik, Gautham Menon, Vijay Sethupathi, Ayyappa Sharma, Varun Sandesh, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Anish Kuruvilla and others
Music: Sam C S
Cinematographer: Kiran Koushik
Editor: R Sathyanarayanan
Director: Ranjit Jeyakodi
Producers: Bharath Chowdary, Pushkar Ram Mohan Rao
Release Date: Feb 3rd, 2023
It has been quite a while since Sundeep Kishan was seen onscreen and he took a hiatus of sorts after going through a spate of flops. This time, he has arrived with a rather ambitious tale with some stellar casting so let us see if this attempt has worked.
Story
Set in the backdrop of the 90s in Mumbai, Michael (Sundeep) becomes the trusted henchman for the powerful gangster Guru (Gautham Menon). An assassination attempt on Guru leads to retribution and he assigns Michael the task of eliminating the mastermind behind it. Michael sets off to Delhi and meets Dhira (Divyansha), the daughter of the mastermind. Her entry changes his life and gives him a purpose. However, various twists occur which make Michael go against Guru. What are those twists and how his life changes forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Though Sundeep Kishan is coming back after a long gap, there is no change in his performance quotient. He still continues his blank expressions with stiff body language and fortunately for him, the dialogues were very few. Divyansha Kaushik is pretty and she did her bit as required. Gautham Menon was excellent. Ayyappa Sharma was impressive. Vijay Sethupathi was a treat. Varun Sandesh was a revelation, he deserves more of such roles and an applause for his performance in this. Anasuya Bharadwaj was brief. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar was neat. The others filled the gaps as required.
Crew
The story had nothing new and barring one or two twists, most of it was predictable. The writing attempted to infuse a lot of drama and the narrative was more like a ballad albeit a failed one. The script was having flaws and screenplay was very loose. Dialogues were good at few places. Cinematography deserves a special applause for an excellent work. Same goes for the background score which elevated the mood. Songs are forgettable. Editor was asleep in second half. The production values were very high. Costumes fitted the period backdrop and the art department also put in a lot of effort which is praiseworthy. Fight sequences and action department was up to the mark.
Hits
First half
Production values
Style
Gautham Menon & Varun Sandesh’s performances
Background score
Misses
Second half
Dragged narrative
Unnecessary fight sequences
Half baked screenplay
Too much runtime
Lack of depth in key sequences
Deeper Look
Gangster dramas are always an exciting treat to watch on the silver screen and when it has a pack of star performers, the expectations are also high. Till here, the director got everything right but what he didn’t keep track of is, keeping the hook factor alive and the core plot more intense and meaningful. He attempted to create a world and was successful to an extent but a good film is not just about style and grandeur, it is about proper content and a storyline that is weaved crisply to engage the audience. The film takes off in style and has a momentum in the first half. The interval bang came at the right time. However, things fall apart in the second half. This is the place where connecting the dots must happen quickly and the audience comes out with no space to think. However, by coming up with unwanted fights and slowing down at key scenes, the whole interest comes down. Most importantly, the focus should have been more of making the protagonist deliver wherever required instead of constantly elevating his personality through heavy dialogues. To be honest, Sundeep Kishan is way behind in the race when it comes to such mass peaks. If he is open to suggestions, he must focus on anti-hero and dark roles instead of trying needlessly to prove he has the ingredients to become a mass hero, unfortunately he doesn’t. The sensibility shown by the director to have a strong team of padding artistes, rich production values and backdrop should have been present while designing the content and focused more on the writing to make it gripping. Despite taking references and inspiration from top notch flicks such as ‘John Wick’ ‘The Man From Nowhere’ and others for the scenes, he failed to conceive it with the right conviction and punch. At the box office, the film doesn’t have the ammunition to score big.
Vox Verdict
Poor Michael…
