A gripping sci-fi action thriller

Telugu cinema has made quite a few rapid strides in matching the narrative style of Hollywood productions in so far action films are concerned. Superficially at least, the treatment to the plot and the knots which sustain the pace of the film are increasingly structured around the Western form of filmmaking. Praveen Sattaru’s ‘PSV Garuda Vega 126.18 M’ also follows this track faithfully.

With the title of the film clearly slotting it in the sci-fi action category, the director loses no time when he starts his chase sequences from the first frame at Darjeeling. To his credit, he manages it pretty well till the final scenes, when a little bit of super heroism, which is typical of such good-versus-evil films takes over.

Having demarcated his genre, Sattaru makes his hero work hard at retaining the briskness and quick thinking, typically expected of a high-level investigative officer with the NIA. However, Dr Rajasekhar’s entry in the film is through a very contrived emotional sequence with the heroine Priya Kumar and a family court counselor Ali, who fails to sneak in between the couple to bag a case for himself. In fact, the heroine and the little son of this couple, who have very few intimate moments, are all deliberately shown as an impediment to the high-risk nature of work that the protagonist revels in. Of course, the leading lady is a convenient hostage in the climax when the villain (a very minor role for Kishore, the Kannada actor) tries unsuccessfully to bump off the committed cop.

The not-so-young angry young man that Dr Rajasekhar is in today’s times still sweats out to retain his trademark toughness in his home production. His partner is relegated to a fringe kind of a presence, the director ignoring her by not even giving her a dream sequence duet. The half-hearted attempt at introducing the oomph of Sunny Leone is ineffective as the song and dance sequence is more of a group song than an item number, which is what her fans would have expected, given the sultry image that she carries.

One aspect of the film which sounds a little high funda is the plot line which is all about plutonium smuggling and nuclear warfare, explained in a rushed manner towards the final reels of the film. Even if the average viewer comes to terms with the scientific nature of the story, it would be interesting to note if they would like this film which has no typical masala and melodrama elements and styles itself on high-octane action and fights, through and through.