Sumanth’s Kapatadhaari Movie Review – An insipid remake.!

Sumanth Akkineni revived his career with Malli Raava and he has been doing content-driven films ever since. His latest film, Kapatadhaari is billed to be an intense suspense thriller and it is a remake of a Kannada film, Kavaludhaari. We have been to a special screening of the film and here is what we felt about it.

Story:

Goutham(Sumanth) works as a traffic police but he is not fully contentful with his job as he is interested in solving crime cases. One day, he comes to know about three correlated murders and sets out to investigate them on his own. In the process, Goutham gets in touch with Ranjan(Nassar) who investigated the case 40 years ago. The rest of the story unveils how Goutham investigates the case and whether or not he solves the mystery.

What about on-screen performances?

Sumanth looks settled in the role of a traffic cop and he delivers a good performance. But the role needed more emotional touch to it. Nassar is the pick of the lot as the senior actor shines in a character which has dual shades. Vennela Kishore’s one-liners targeting Adivi Sesh evoke a few laughs here and there. Jayaprakash bags a good role and he does well. Satish Kumar who plays antagonist looks menacing and he does justice to his role.

What about off-screen talents?

Being a remake, Kapatadhaari is very faithful to the original in regard to the story and screenplay. Not many changes were made to the basic premise. Rasamathi’s cinematography is impressive and so is Simon K Singh’s music. Captivating visuals and uplifting background score form the backbone of the film.

The director Pradeep Krishnamurthy focuses solely on getting the suspense elements right and leaves the emotional connect to the air. This takes a toll on the effectiveness of the plot as the audience don’t connect with the characters. There are few encouraging thrills in the second half but again the ending is routine and very much predictable. The film ends on a disappointing note.

What’s Hot?

Scenes featuring Nassar
Interval block
Some thrills in the second half
Visuals and music

What’s Not?

Zero emotions
Insipid narration
Slow screenplay
Poor characterisations
Predictable climax
Repetitive scenes

Verdict:

Kapatadhaari is a poorly executed remake which lacks the sharpness that the original had. Poor characterisations lead to weak emotional connect and the audience never connect to the characters seen on the screen, which is a big no-no to suspense thrillers.

Watch or Not?: Skip this film and watch the original instead.

TeluguBulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5