Terror strikes

As a genre, it surely is not path-breaking. However, in terms of linear flow, distraction-free watching and a raw, gripping mood which permeates throughout the 144 minutes of onscreen time, ‘Terror’ is a first-of-its-kind. Director Satish Kasetty obviously decided to tell a story which would just confine to a cop-versus- system theme and what comes out of it. With no item songs or mushy romantic number to humanise the suspended cop hero, the film stays true to the course.

A deadly cocktail of political ambition and sleeper cell terror, with its target as the state’s chief minister keeps Srikanth, a past master at police and politics kind of films, constantly on the move, stressed and busy. He has an activist, idealist father to contend with who does not approve of his methods in dealing with crime and in the process, getting bribed for it to settle things. The prickly papa has his own justification as our hero, along with a senior is shown being subjected to a departmental enquiry, which does not give them a chance to sport the police uniform, except in a brief flashback.

Meanwhile, as the determined extremists go about their task ruthlessly, Srikanth finds himself done in by his senior who compromises for the lure of the lucre and is sandwiched between the politicians and his family. As any hero would do in Indian cinema, he breaks free from the excruciating pressure forever and charts his own, one-man army path, which ends in eliminating the deadly desperadoes who dare him to undo the damage they have planned to inflict.

Aided by a no-nonsense screenplay and past masters like Kota Sreeinivas Rao, Nasser and a theatre artiste-turned-Telugu film cop Vinay Varma, the film delivers by and large. The heroine, Nikita Thukral and/or the other female characters are incidental and consequently, irrelevant to this male dominated drama.

Srikanth, throughout, maintains the serious, deadpan expression of a committed police officer very well. His team of officers, which stands by him serves the cause well. The expected climax of the hero standing up to his call of duty and haranguing the powers-that-be on their obstructive approach to citizen safety is bound to strike a chord among action film lovers of Telugu cinema.

Cast : Srikanth, Nikita and Kota Sreenivas Rao
Director : Satish Kasetty
Genre : Action
ThumpsUp : Srikanth
ThumpsDown: Usual plotline