Sometime in the evening…the focus shifts from silhouettes of construction workers to the Jogi brothers driving down the highway in their usual flamboyance talking about Silk Smita. They stop for a smoke, they continue talking about Silk. A car pulls up close by. They decide to upload (in their own words) and pull out guns in slo-mo to metal riffing. They kill a man in cold blood and when their scooter gives up on them, they carjack and the camera pans down to the abandoned scooter on the road.
This sequence sums up the film’s overall quality. The visual had its appeal,finely cut and made for a nice movie opening, but, it didn’t really hit the sweet spot. It was a tad overdone, the schooled cinematographer did his part well only for the director and the musicians to lack restraint, just a tad.
Sudhir Varma’s debut film adds to the now popular sub-genre of ‘heist debuts’. Starting with the quote “I will steal from the films I like”, the film stays true to it. And like many films that have done it without quoting it, Guy Ritchie’s films were the first on the list.
Plot
Satya (Nikhil) and his friends (Pooja Ramchandran and Praveen) are a team of skilled thieves, ranging from slicing pockets to sleek bag switches. Satya steals Swati’s (Swati) new moped trying to get away from a mob that’s chasing him.And when Swati accidentally spots him one day he lies that he had bought it from someone at half the price (the boy meets girl scene, ends with them exchanging numbers)
On the news…a rare and expensive Vinayaka idol is stolen in Kerala and is on its way to Durga (Ravi Babu), a man wanted for many murders. But the transaction does not go smoothly when one of Durga’s henchmen plans to double cross him. The idol and the many money transactions associated with it cross paths with the Satya gang, Swati and other interested parties (Jeeva and some camera conscious Nigerians) to end in a maze like climax (reminiscent of many RGV comedies).
Dialogue
Soon after the opening sequence, another metal riffed montage of Satya and his friends showing their skill. And like I said, it was slightly overdone and I was guessing the film will suffer once the dialogue starts and I don’t enjoy being right, but, it was exactly that. A workshop in pre-production or a dialogue that leaves room for improv is the need of the hour. Patchy, forced dialogue is very disconnecting and brings down the performances.
The film had few plot turns that were interesting, but, was mostly predictable and mild in nature. The music, cinematography and the performances were inconsistent. Had their moments, but loses out in totality.
Verdict
Of all who have been stealing and debuting with heists in the recent times, this is one of the better ones.
