Eenadu

Story

Former Police commissioner Eshwar Prasad (Venkatesh) recalls the one day that changed his life forever. The story begins with the call he gets from a stranger (Kamal) who says that bombs have been planted across various parts of the city. What is assumed to be a prank turns out to be real with a bomb close to the police headquarters. Eshwar takes matters seriously and ropes in two of his best men Gautham and Arif Khan (Ganesh) on the job. The stranger demands the release of four most wanted terrorists responsible for bomb blasts in the city and across the nation. After a while, Eshwar complies to the demand and gets the accused to the said site. However, a sudden surprise awaits the police force and also those who were expecting a typical release. What is that and why it happens forms the rest of the story.

Performances

Kamal Haasan was alright with his act but there was not much energy, Venkatesh was smart and looked apt for the role but could have been better. Ganesh Venkatraman was impressive, Anuja was standard, Lakshmi was okay, Santhanam was normal, Poonam Kaur was brief, the actors who did the role of the terrorists did justice to their role, others didn’t have much to speak about.

Technical aspects

The script has been written weakly and the screenplay was not riveting. Dialogues were decent and so was the background score. Cinematography could have been better to create a better impact, editing seems to have gobbled up few key shots which has slackened the momentum, re-recording seems to be in trouble since the lip sync was missing most of the time during the first half. Costumes were natural and realistic while the art department didn’t have much to do.

Director’s portrayal

The director has not been able to extract the best out of two great stars despite a good theme. He was unable to handle the script deftly and could not create an intense screenplay. There was also a lack of visual thought on the angles of camera to give that impact on the screen and so it looked a very simple movie. He could have worked on making it crisp but that finesse was missing.

Critic’s view

The film is the remake of the Bollywood hit ‘A Wednesday’ but by no means is this comparable to that. Though there is heavy ammunition in the form of star cast and the technical aspects, the content was not delivered properly. It was clear that the movie was running mildly and it lacked the punch to engage the audience. The perspective has to be to watch the film without comparing the original and that would give it some marks. This could be appreciated for its message but not much for the mass audience to see.

Verdict

Lots of hype but hollow, not impressive

Released on: 18.09.09