Tagaru

Shiva is an ACP who is out there to flush out the underbelly of Bengaluru. The underworld has no heart or emotions and this makes this tryst a deadly one. Will he be able to vanquish the ghastly Daali and his gang?

Tagaru releases amidst a lot of frenzy and expectations. The film marks yet another collaboration of Suri and Shivarajkumar after Kaddipudi. This film also has been in the news for many reasons with fans being acquainted with the character names even. Does the film stand up to the expectations? It does to a large extent. The film is novel and different, words that are often used by filmmakers - - but they actually hold good to the film here.

This film is narrated in an interesting non-linear style, which could have half the traditional film goers flummoxed as the hero enters well after the narrative has begun. One gets to see what could be a quick synopsis of the film in the first half hour, and it slowly unfurls into an engaging narrative. The film sees a rather raw portrayal of the underworld in the form of Uncle, Daali, Chitte, Cockroach and the rest of the gang. They are ruthless. They stop for nothing. And emotions have hardly any priority in their daily existence. Enter Shiva: the ram who is ready to charge head on into this world. This causes a lot of turmoil and distress to both the sides and the film unfolds showing this gory fight against good and evil.

What is commendable in a film like this is that the director has assumed his fans are smart and he has presented them a film that engages them as viewers and challenges them to connect dots periodically. This deserves a round of applause because most often, filmmakers decide to spell out all that they do. The film also scores technically in terms of cinematography, editing and music. Each of them blend the narrative to keep the viewers' minds from wavering. The film could have shortened a portion or two, especially in the first half in the Goa sequence. But these can be overlooked as they have elements that draw the masses. Whether this clever writing will appeal to the average cine goer is debatable, but this kind of change being made with a film of such magnitude and featuring an ensemble cast with big names is welcome.

Shivarajkumar's character has the understated poise of that he had in Kaddipudi, while he also possesses the spunk that he showcased in Killing Veerappan. He doesn't have over the top dialogues, but the right punches are delivered periodically to ensure people enjoy the star's power that they love so much. Dhananjaya's Daali is the perfect antithesis to Shiva. He delivers and he delivers well. Vasishta N Simha, Devaraj and Manvitha Harish impress too in their respective roles. The other hero of this film is Charan Raj, whose music and soundtrack suits perfectly to the mood of the film. Tagaru may not be the quintessential big star vehicle, but it has enough ammunition to draw the whistles and it deserves a watch.