The plot centers around a rogue cop who teams up with an unscrupulous politician to settle scores with his senior officer. How certain circumstances change his mind form the rest. Shifting from horror-comedies of recent times, Lawrence goes for action-comic flick.
A remake of the Telugu film Pataas, it includes every cliché in the book, giving one a strong sense of déja vu throughout.
It opens with Shiva a cop, taking a transfer to Chennai. Shiva joins hands with gangster-politician GK, the main enemy of the police commissioner (Satyaraj). Siding with GK 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 here is predictable. Whether it’s action scenes, dialogue delivery or the comic portions, everything is loud and in-your-face.
There is no separate comedy track. Kovai Sarala and Satish as Shiva’s juniors try to make it lively. ‘Motta time starts’, reads the caption at the interval. Toward the latter part, the plot seems to lose steam, picking up momentum towards the end.
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 GK’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 150 minutes of viewing time could have been trimmed. An unabashed mass entertainer which doesn’t take itself too seriously, Motta Shiva… is a one-man-Lawrence-show!