The Ghost

Story: An ex-Interpol officer is forced out of retirement to protect his estranged family; will he manage to save them?

Review: In Praveen Sattaru’s film there’s a ‘Ghost,’ as the underworld has dubbed him, whose real name is Vikram. He has to unleash a side to him he has kept hidden for a while now in order to protect his family. If the premise sounds familiar, that’s where the similarities end. Because everything else Praveen pulls off in this film, while different, remain half-baked and on surface-level at best.

Vikram aka Ghost (Nagarjuna) is an Interpol officer with a haunting past. He’s prone to be violent when it comes to saving people, protocol be damned. An unfortunate incident triggers something in him, enough for him to quit his job. His co-agent and lover Priya (Sonal Chauhan) believes he can gain some much-needed peace through therapy (no points for guessing that he doesn’t). Years later, he receives a distress call from his estranged sister Anu (Gul Panag) who’s seeking his help to keep her and her daughter Aditi (Anikha Surendran) safe.

Praveen tests out a lot of plot points with The Ghost, yet never gets deep enough to fully explore any of them. The ideas sound good on paper, even if cliché. Some of these plot points have massive chinks in logic though. We’re told Vikram had a shaky childhood, he still has nightmares that sometimes keep him up, he has an issue with following orders, he’s looking to fulfil a promise he made many years ago and his weapon of choice is a katana. And yet, the director never really delves deep into any of these, instead choosing to focus on corporate politics that are hardly anything unique.

Vikram and Priya’s relationship is also hastily set up via a romantic number. We really don’t know what it is that makes the latter be his backbone in time of need, even when he doesn’t ask for help. As for the whole track involving Aditi’s supposedly juvenile behaviour (she is a school-going kid), odd parenting techniques are used to keep her in check. Maybe don’t suggest using a stun gun (and an actual gun) on a child in lieu of discipline? An unnecessary song in Goa doesn’t make things better.

Despite all this The Ghost truly suffers mostly due to the lag in the screenplay. There are moments that maybe need to be explored better that are wrapped up too fast. And the ones that don’t really need much exposition are dumbed down to the point of annoyance. The action sequences too don’t really stand out, except for two gory sequences in the film that show how violent Vikram truly is. The songs by Bharatt-Saurabh are passable at best, not really making a mark. Mark K Robin’s background score however adds depth to numerous scenes.

Nagarjuna breezes through the role of a troubled officer with panache. He does oddly falter in some scenes but does well for the most part. We have seen better performances from him and his character doesn’t really let him do much beyond brood in most scenes. He shines whenever he gets a chance to kick some butt though. Sonal Chauhan gives the character her all and you can see the kind of effort she puts in. While she’s present in most of the action sequences, it’s a shame her character too doesn’t evolve much than being Vikram’s sidekick. Gul Panag and Anikha Surendran do a good job, the latter in particular coming into her own as the film progresses. There are numerous other players in the film and the cast fare well.

There are moments in The Ghost that will test your patience. You might also walk away feeling that it was a wasted opportunity to have a story that can be fleshed out better. However, if you’re a Nagarjuna fan, you might like it for him and him alone.