We always trust a person who shows promise in his way of working and tackling a project. But if they break it or use it, our heart breaks. If such thing is done by a Police Officer, then the trust in the system breaks and we see democracy running at high risk from potential threats every nook and corner of the society. Ram Gopal Verma took same point and added, a trustworthy officer opposite such criminal minded person, to make an interesting cat and mouse story, at least on paper.
Story : Narayan Pasari (Anwar Khan) is found suspicious in one of the high profile encounters in Mumbai City. He is a powerful cop in the city, as he is the main man who helped wipe out underworld in the city. He has high-level contacts and even Ministers fear him. He has a team that does anything for him. Shivaji (Akkineni Nagarjuna) from Hyderabad is appointed as Special Investigation Team head and he gets to know that Narayan is not as good as he appears to be.
He fails in his attempts to prove him a criminal and he decides to stay back in Mumbai to save the city from new Company, that is emerging from the shackles of the old underworld mafia. Narayan heads this and Shivaji has to prove it. Can he do so? If he does, how will he? Watch the movie for answers.
Performances : Akkineni Nagarjuna has put his soul into the movie even though the scenes did not seem to have any potential for him to be inspired. The tried and trusted formulaic story roles out in a very uninteresting way but the seasoned actor helps us sit through the runtime with his performance and also his screen presence. We have to say that he still looks young and fit enough to be an action star hero. We have to salute to his grit and passion to maintain a body like that.
Myra Sareen is just OK as the leading lady but like in many RGV movies, she doesn’t have a strong purpose or character too. Anwar Khan is as plastic as a bucket that can just look dangerous but in actually, still a bucket. All others are just OK.
Technicalities : Rahul Penumastha, worked hard to run around the shoes and capture weird close-ups from different angles. He should have become fitter than he normally looks after this film. It is no easy job to run from one corner of the room to another corner with high handheld camera and then again from low-level end once again. He deserves an award for just working on the film.
Anwar Ali and R. Kamal, might have thought the test shoot footage as the real movie footage. They used whatever they can out of them, to convince us that this is a film and not an expensive showreel for new camera companies to boost of their equipment. Alas, their work still failed.
Ravi Shankar, the music composer is asked to listen to all RGV old movie score and songs. He did and then reproduced remixes of the same without any difficulty. But it is us who will be closing our ears to save ourselves from being harassed. The sound department should be credited for being so talented that they pulled off so many complex sound scenes, at the same time, they needed to maintain a flow of sound, which they did not.
Ram Gopal Verma, the writer, and director of the film, seems to have fallen in love with camera equipment, sound equipment rather than stories. He may not have to prove anything new but the man needed to at least adhere to the trust his main lead has put in him. He did have a good story but in his penchant to use technology and technology only, he failed to make a film that is relatable to the audience. But any camera company can show few scenes from the film as a showreel for sure.
Analysis : It is no mean achievement to make a film like Shiva on debut. It is no mean achievement to lose it all in one go too. Nag-RGV combination should have been the revolutionary one but Officer just spoils that party. As a director, RGV might be miles ahead in understanding technology and trying to use it in a newest possible way but as a storyteller, he has fallen miles down from the mighty skies he once ruled.
Rating : 1/5
