Film: Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva
Director: Sai Ramani
Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Nikki Galrani, Satyaraj, Ashutosh Rana, Kovai Sarala, Satish.
The plot centers round a rogue cop who teams up with an unscrupulous politician to settle scores with his senior officer. How circumstances become an eye opener for him and changes his mind-set forms the rest. Shifting from his horror-comedies of recent times, Lawrence goes for an action-comic flick. A remake of the Telugu film 'Pataas', it includes every cliché in the book, giving one a strong sense of déjà vu throughout.
It opens with Shiva a cop, taking a transfer to Chennai. Shiva joins hands with gangster- politician G.K., the main enemy of the police commissioner (Satyaraj). Siding with G.K. in all his nefarious activities, Shiva has an agenda. But redemption is round the corner, when the cop would soon learn the truth about his past.
The suspense element is a predictable one. Whether it’s the action scenes, the style of dialogue delivery or the comic portions, everything is loud and on-your-face kind. There is no separate comedy track. But Kovai Sarala and Satish as Shiva’s juniors try to liven up the scenario.
“Motta Time starts’, reads the caption at the interval. Toward the latter part the plot seems to lose steam, picking up momentum towards the closing moments. Amusing is the scene where Shiva gives GK and his wayward brother a taste of their own medicine. There is a kind of a slap-fest on throughout, with almost everyone getting the chance to slap someone or the other.
There are the two women in the cop's life. Janu a TV reporter (Galrani) Shiva falls for, and Nitya a deaf-mute girl he befriends. The latter gets more scope to perform. Galrani apart from the song-dance routine gets her space, when she has to go through the usual scenario of being kidnapped by GK, to draw Shiva to his den.
Ashutosh as GK gets to play the typical villain, his overdone histrionics matching the energy level of the hero. ‘I hate the police’ is G.K.’s constant refrain, till the cop puts an end to it in the finale.
A flamboyant performer Lawrence’s Shiva is spirited, with a lot of style and attitude. His dance movements are a delight to watch. The film’s more than 150 minutes of viewing time could have been trimmed to a more watchable length. An unabashed mass entertainer which doesn’t take itself too seriously, ‘Motta Shiva…’ is a one-man-Lawrence-show!