Rating: 1.5/5
Banner: Chaganti Productions
Cast: Aadi Saikumar, Misha Narang, Ali Reza, Tarak Ponnappa, Nandini Rai, Madhusudan, Khayyum, Sanjay Reddy and others
Music: Aneesh Solomon
Cinematographer: Shekar Ganganamoni
Editor: Amar Reddy
Director: Sivashankar Dev
Producer: Ajay Srinivas
Release date: 10th March, 2023
Aadi Saikumar, son of dialogue Sai Kumar, is the go-to hero for all the small time producers and while his spate of flops still continues he has tried something new this time. Here is the new attempt.
Story
Vijay Chakravarthy (Tarak) is the CEO of a finance company who gets murdered during an office party. In comes Sanatan (Aadi) a crime scene investigator and he is accompanied by inspector Rudra (Ali Reza). The investigation leads to four suspects and one among them is Sudiksha (Misha), Sanatan’s ex-lover and another is Divya (Nandini Rai), Vijay’s company partner and secret lover. Sanatan’s inquiry also leads to another suspect Rajyavardhan (Madhu), a noted politician. Through his techniques, whether he nails the killer or not forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Aadi Saikumar was a misfit. He felt out of the place. Inconsistent body language, unwanted mannerisms and unnecessary intensity made him look like an amateur actor. The way he addresses Rudra at every instance is a bit bizarre and over dramatic. Ali Reza was alright. Misha Narang didn’t have much to do. Nandini Rai was okay. Madhu made his presence felt. Tarak Ponnappa was good and showed potential. The actor who did the role of a hacker was over enthusiastic. Ravi as ACP was apt. Khayyum, Sanjay Reddy, Appaji, Bhupal and others filled the screen as required.
Crew
The director came up with a plot trying to match the Hollywood crime thrillers but failed miserably in every department. The script was written shoddily and the screenplay was horrible. There was no coherence or sequence. The background score was neat in few places and songs failed to create any impact. Another biggest minus was the cinematography. The texture, the positioning of the frame and capturing the expressions, everything was poor. Editing was asleep at many places. Costumes were okay, art department was moderate. Fights were mechanical. Production values were not that impressive. The other departments didn’t have much to do.
Hits
Background score in few sequences
Misses
Lackluster narration
Plastic performances
Length
Zero engagement
Disjointed sequences
Deeper Look
Genres like murder mysteries, crime thrillers are an excellent option for a director to show his true mettle and creative juice. However, conceiving a story at an idea level and actually getting it into proper writing and then converting it into celluloid is what makes a filmmaker a true one. In this case, except the idea, rest of the aspects was a disaster. It was clear that the director needed to learn a lot about filmmaking and making an engaging product. The key departments were not handled properly and the output was bad. It looked as if the scenes were stitched as per convenience without any uniformity or consistency. The film takes off on the right note but the intensity starts dipping after fifteen minutes. The interval bang was a sigh of relief to the audience as they could go and get some snacks. The second half was about connecting the dots but the pace at which things were proceeding ensured that nobody bothered who the killer was anymore. Overall, this is a film which will mostly come and go without a whiff of air. At the box office, a disaster tag looks very likely.
Vox Verdict
Failed Investigation
