Film: Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vahana
Director: Raj B Shetty
Cast: Rishab Shetty, Raj B Shetty, Gopal Deshpande,
Duration: 151 minutes
Certificate: A
Stars: 4
Review by - S Shyam Prasad
A slice of gangster lives
A raw, violent gangster movie would be an understatement for GGVV. It is for all purposes a gangster flick, but by capturing a slice of the local flavour (set in Mangaladevi, Mangaluru) and subtly exploring the friendship between two vastly different individuals, it becomes one of the best films on the gangster genre.
Raj B Shetty, the director who made a completly contrasting debut with Ondu Motteya Kathe, has come up with something so stunningly different. He brings to life characters so natural, the experience is immersive. In the backdrop of the emergece of a new gang buldozzing its way through Mangaluru, the story explores the changing perceptions of close friends as power and circumstances change them beyond recognition.
Shiva and Hari, brought together by strange circumstances in childhood grow up more as siblings. Shiva, whose rather graphic childhood story makes him a loner and immune to his surroundings, suddenly turns out to be the hammer of Hari. The two go on to build a gang that threatens the existing order of the quiet underworld. That's the basic plot. It is the way it is narrated, that makes the film special. At the interval, wow, is the word that escaped most audience.
The second half takes a toll on the overall plot a bit. It loses its way a bit before finding its feet in a convincingly conceptualised climax. The lack of enough interaction between Hari and Shiva could be the reason for a little loss of excitement. However, the brilliant casting and some superlative performances keeps the engagement levels high. Raj B Shetty is so convincing that you will be left wondering if he shot his own life as a movie. Rishab Shetty shows that he can fit into any role but more than that, he has shown the willingness to be part of films where he is not a conventional 'hero'.
The process of bringing the coastal flavour to the mainstream of Kannada films, which started a decade ago, seems to have finally hit the bullseye with GGVV. There is also perfect sync in the design of the film. The sounds, colours, styles and words come together to build a very good movie. In time, GGVV may be considered a cult classic and it has all the trappings of garnering such a status.
-Movie Review By S Shyam Prasad
