Film: Churikatte
Director: Raghu Shivamogga
Cast: Praveen Tej, Prerana Kambam, Achyuth Kumar, Manohar Balaji, Sharath Lohithashwa,
Manjunath Hegde, Pramod Shetty
Once in a while comes a film with a perfect mix of clever script, intelligent direction and an effective cast. Churikatte is just that film, of course, flaws do find a place in the blend. First time feature film director Raghu Sivamogga has carefully stitched his thoughts through Churikatte, and his characters effectively portray his thinking.
With action, suspense, love, friendship, duty, betrayal and a heavy dose of fear captured in every character, the film tells the tale of Adi (Praveen Tej), who is just getting out of college and aspires to become a police constable. A situation arises when he encounters a strict police officer, Ravikanth (Achyuth Kumar) and a debate springs up surrounding the superiority between a police officer and a constable. That leads to various turn of events between the two. Meanwhile, Adi falls in love with the Kala (Prerana Kambam), a relative of Seena (Manohar Balaji), who is involved with Anna (Sharath Lohitashwa), who is into timber mafia. The whole episode takes a twist when Ravikanth loses his gun, which later gets to a few hands. This puts the police officer on the verge of being suspended.
Who is involved in the gun theft, how the weapon entangles the lives of various characters, will Ravikanth get back his gun, and will Adi become a constable, forms the crucial part of the film.
Firstly, kudos to the director for placing an interesting set of star cast and making sure that nobody is wasted. Raghu has gone into psychological depth with each character. With a weapon and nature coming as the film’s backdrop, the background score by Vasuki Vaibhav adds great value to the crime thriller.
Even though the story at times gets predictable, the emotions make you look for more. For commercial reasons, the director has stretched the film with extended romance, songs, and a few minutes of extra violence. If he had got rid of them, it would have made for a perfect thriller.
As for the actors, every character has tried to overpower the other. Be it Achyuth Kumar, who has an extended role, or Balaji Manohar as the antagonist or Sharath Lohitashwa, who makes his presence felt on and off, they keep the audiences glued. Praveen’s transformation from a lover boy to an angry youth is very well crafted and his efforts are visible. Actress Prerana Kambam, a newcomer, comes out with a natural performance. The presence of certain actors in the supporting cast make it very important for the film, and they include Manjunath Hegde, Dattanna, , Kiran Naik and Pramod Shetty.
Cinematogrpher Advaita Gurumurthy captures the situations tactfully which make for an excellent frame. Vasuki has come up with some good songs which are placed in the right situations. Overall, this crime thriller makes for a worthy piece of entertainment with convincing acting.