Shakhahaari - "Burning" Bad

Shakhahaari

Kannada / Drama 

145 mins - Prime Video

 

I was waiting to watch this after generally favourable reviews (rare for a Kannada movie) in Feb this year. Having been exposed to a lot of Malayalam cinema over the past 5 years - one can easily see the inspiration. The rural setting, the languid pacing, slow introduction of characters, commonplace sequences, some casual humor (which really isnt always funny!) and  then the drama unfolds.

For a first movie - Writer director Sandeep Sunkad does a fair job in creating this story centered around a Veg eatery in a small town, run by Subbanna (Ranganayaka Raghu). A murderer is on the loose, being hunted by a policeman Mallikarjun (Gopalkrishna Deshpande, the husband in SSE - Part B). 

Mallikarjun is battling his own domestic issues, a pregnant wife who wants him by his side, even if it were at the cost of giving up the job. He is looking for a swift closure to the murder case, so he can push for his transfer. Subbanna is a middle aged grubby loner  churning the same "boring" menu every day. The only happy part of his day when he rushes to the backside of his hotel, at the pretext of washing the vessels - to catch a glimpse a woman staring out of a bus window!

The Eatery is where everyone comes in, in towners, out of towners, the cops and so does the murderer.  What was his motive, why was he running, does Subbanna help him , does Mallikarjun catch him and get his transfer ...

The last 40 mins of the movie is jaw dropping screenplay, dialogue and acting by the two male leads. Ranganayaka Raghu is very good throughout, but the last third of the movie tell us why he  is known as Abhinaya Asura. Gopalkrishna Deshpande channelizes his domestic frustration with his sub ordinates, while word playing his superior brilliantly. Creditably, he holds his own in the scenes towards the end.

One wishes it had lost the flab (not Subbanna!) and was tighter by about 30/40 mins and it would have been an absolute classic! - Nevertheless, the movie is very good and i would recommend, if you like slow burn drama.