Remaking a hugely successful film isn’t as easy as many would want to believe. In this week’s release, Chase, an adaptation of the Korean film, Blind, director Vilok Shetty has seemingly ignored the most important aspect of a filmmaker — instinct.
Chase ends up as a rather lame thriller that does not do justice to the original, which has already seen remakes in Tamil and Hindi.
The film revolves around Nidhi (Radhika Narayan), a CBI officer who loses her vision in a freak accident. She goes through personal and professional turmoil but does try her best to move on with life. However, she becomes a witness to a hit-and-run case, and things become complicated. Nidhi takes the help of Avinash (Avinash Divakar) who works in the police department, and they investigate the case, which springs a few tense and surprising moments.
Except for these twists and turns, and a few well-conceived action sequences, the film disappoints.
Vilok Shetty’s first misstep was diluting a complex crime thriller with a romantic track and songs.
The film does not give many edge-of-the-seat moments, which is imperative in a genre like this.
Radhika puts in her best to stay in the character, however, her body language clearly indicates her struggle in portraying a visually impaired person. Avinash seems earnest but does not bring the shades of a bright cop.
The characters playing negative shades seem weak in their performances and their on-and-off encounters with the protagonist are uninteresting. The mass moments are brought through episodes between Nidhi and the opponents, but they don’t really work well as these sequences aren’t captured properly.
Honestly, contrary to the title, this is not at all a film that needs to be chased and watched.
Chase
Director: Vilok Shetty
Cast: Radhika Narayan, Avinash S Diakar, Sheetal Shetty, Arjun Yogesh Raj, Sushant Pujari, Aravind Bolar
Rating: 2.5/5