‘Shakhahaari’ movie review: Rangayana Raghu, Gopalkrishna Deshpande power this crime thriller

“What’s meant to be, will at all times be” is a well-known adage. Sandeep Sunkad’s directorial debut, Shakhahaari, is in regards to the accident that decides the course of 1’s life. Set within the village of Melige at Thirthahalli taluk in Shivamogga, the movie revolves round a homicide and the way the lives of Subbanna (Rangayana Raghu), who runs a small resort, and a police officer, Mallikarjun (Gopalkrishna Deshpande), get affected by the case.

Subbanna’s resort is a busy place, with individuals from all walks of life stopping by for a cup of tea or a plate of ‘dosa’. He spends evenings practising theatre, and the middle-aged man additionally has emotions for a mysterious girl.

Mallikarjun finds himself in a sticky scenario when a homicide accused escapes from his station. On the verge of getting a switch as per his request, he faces a race-against-time situation to catch the accused and transfer to a brand new city to be along with his ailing spouse.

The partaking drama, constructed on cleverly written dialogue, will increase the air of intrigue because the movie chugs alongside properly for essentially the most half. Shakahaari emphasises individuals’s need to reside and appears at their vulnerability within the face of unexpected conditions.

The movie is helped by a top-notch forged, led by Rangayana Raghu and Gopalakrishna Deshpande. Rangayana Raghu, a seasoned supporting actor, has powered a number of star movies along with his terrific performances. With sharp dialogue supply and gifted comedian timing, he has the power to face out even in uninteresting scenes. 

Gopalkrishna Desphande is the most recent addition to Kannada’s very good record of supporting actors. Filmmakers who wrote daring roles for Achyuth Kumar and Anant Nag can now consider high quality characters for Deshpande. He has a knack for pulling off haunting performances from characters who’re emotional and helpless.

Kudos to director Sandeep Sunkad for casting two supporting actors as his lead characters and providing them sufficient room to shine. In Shakhahaari, each the actors convey pressure and despair by way of their eyes. They seamlessly rework into their susceptible characters and develop on us because the plot thickens.

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The movie loses management in the direction of the top. There’s a terrific face-off between the 2 central characters, however their destiny will get determined too conveniently. The director gives sufficient clues, however just some are served with deception, whereas the others are simple to crack. As soon as the suspense-filled drama unfolded leisurely, the movie needed to land the ultimate blow successfully.

Regardless of the failings, Shakhahaari is a promising debut. Sandeep Sunkad principally retains us invested within the proceedings with advantageous management over a screenplay that accommodates human feelings and surprising moments in equal measure. With Shakhahaari, Kannada cinema might need witnessed its first high quality industrial movie of 2024.

Shakhahaari is presently operating in theatres.