Looty
Director Girish Kamplapura
Cast Isha Koppikar, Shwetha Pandit, Deepika Das, Sadhu Kokila, Andira D Souza
Director Girish Kamplapur’s Looty is undoubtedly a casual effort of five years to loot the audience of any minuscule enthusiasm they could be left with to take a risk of watching a film. Although curiosity simmers around the film because of its title and the presence of Bollywood actress Isha Koppikar as the protagonist, it successfully manages to get rid of your curiosity within the first few frames of the film.
The film explores the desperate attempt of few youths stealing cash from an ATM only to throw the bag with the booty into a landfill to evade the police. Found by a crazy rag picker, the youth begin their chase to get the bag from her. Parallely, a three-member gang of petty thieves come to know of the money and they too join the action. Hunting them all is Bhavani aka Durga Bhavani, the assistant commissioner of police and her colleagues.
The next twist comes when the rag picker lands at a film set where the the director is getting ready for a sequence which requires duplicate currency notes. The rest of the film follows the thieves on the run from the police. Will Durga Bhavani manage to nab them, and what happens to the money leads to a cold climax.
Five years in the making, the thriller makes for a wobbling narration and can make you wonder where to go to hit your head. It can get you to agonise over the film. A disingenuous effort and the casual attempt by the director are obvious in the making, acting, cinematography, music, editing…well, in the entire gamut.
Except for B Jayashree, who has sincerely played the role of a rag picker, nobody manages to even yearn to create a some impact on screen. Isha Koppikar is the protagonist, but it seems more like a cameo appearance as she can be seen on screen only in the beginning, and in some scenes towards the end. It is better that she refrains from doing such films and leaves the industry being remembered for two Kannada films -- Survyavamsha and O Nanna Nalle.
The rest of the cast consisting of Kaddipudi Chandru, Dhruv, Shweta Pandit, Sadhu Kokila, Deepika Das, Andria D Souza, and everything else about this film (including the music, the picturisation) gets on to your nerves.