Touted as a mysterious drama, Prathyardhi starring Ravi Varma, Rohit Behal in key roles had a theatrical release today. Let’s see how it fares.

Story: The film revolves around the missing mystery of a techie named Vijay. To track his whereabouts, sub-inspector Krishna( Ravi Varma) enters the scene. Eventually, in his investigation process, Krishna arrests Mechanic Shiva( Rohit Behal) and his Garage friends. Who is Vijay? What is his backstory? How Shiva is interlinking with the entire setup? Will Krishna be able to track Vijay? To know that, you have to watch the film in the cinemas near.

Performances: Noted actor Ravi Varma gets a meaty role. His intense performance as a cop brings the required mileage to the proceedings. Ravi Varma’s screen presence in the multidimensional character is good and explores the theme nicely.

Actor Rohit Behal is okay in his role as a mechanic. Rohit’s acting in sad scenes after the missing of his girlfriend adds realistic texture to the screen. The chemistry between Rohit Behal and Akshatha Sonawane is good.

Actor Vamsee Aloor is fine in his purposeful role. Sneha Guptha and Sneha Namanandhi provides the required eye candy treat. Balveer Singh evokes good fun at regular intervals. Others supporting artists such as Thotapally Madhu, Thagubothu Ramesh, and Neelima are okay in their limited roles.

Technicalities: The photography work by Rakesh Goud registers as he tried to showcase the entire film with good quality. His work is visible in a few night mood scenes.

The film has a couple of songs that are passable on screen. The background score is apt for the film’s setup. The action part choreographed by Shaolin Mallesh is good. Editing work is fine. Production values for this limited-budget movie are okay.

Analysis: Written and directed by debutant Shankar, Prathyardhi is a crime thriller that has a fresh setup and approach toward a missing drama. Shankar’s idea of making a mysterious drama by interconnected the proceedings with various sub-plots is good.

The presentation is neat. He executed what he felt in a proper manner without any unwanted deviations. To summarize, Prathyardhi is a passable crime drama that has a largely engaging narrative. If the team can promote the film even more aggressively, it has fair chances to generate decent revenues at ticket windows during the weekend.

Verdict: Honest Attempt!

Rating: 2.5/5