Actor Naga Chaitanya teams up with Kollywood director Venkat Prabhu for the action-packed bilingual movie, Custody, which stars Krithi Shetty as the female lead. The movie has generated high expectations among audiences due to its compelling promotional material. However, let’s see if it manages to live up to the hype, as it releases in theaters today.
Plot:
Custody follows the story of Constable Shiva (Naga Chaitanya), a young man from a small town who falls deeply in love with Revathi (Krithi Shetty). Unfortunately, Revathi’s parents do not approve of their relationship. One day, while on duty, Shiva arrests notorious gangster Raju (Arvind Swami) and, unintentionally, a CBI officer, George (Sampath). Shiva discovers from George that Raju must be taken to court in Bengaluru. However, Raju has the backing of CM Dakshyani (Priyamani) and the entire government. Despite facing various obstacles, Shiva is determined to produce Raju in court. Along the way, Revathi accompanies him on his journey. Will Shiva succeed in his attempt to protect the truth? What challenges will he face to achieve his goal? These are the questions that the film explores.
Positives:
Naga Chaitanya portrays the underdog character convincingly, putting in significant effort to achieve a leaner physique, while delivering a sincere performance. He also performs admirably in the action sequences, particularly in the police station fight. Arvind Swami is well-suited to the role of Raju, and his interactions with Chaitanya and Krithi Shetty are compelling. The addition of comedy to his character provides some laughs, and his natural charm remains intact. Krithi Shetty performs her role well, delivering a performance that meets the expectations of her character.
Goparaju Ramana and Vennela Kishore bring entertainment value to the film with their clever dialogue and comic antics. Although the first half of the film starts slowly, the pace picks up once Arvind Swami’s character is introduced, and it is maintained until the halfway mark.
Negatives:
Venkat Prabhu had already revealed that the film would revolve around the hero’s attempts to protect the antagonist. Therefore, the primary challenge for him was to execute this thin plot in an engaging manner. Unfortunately, the second half of the film is a significant negative, as the events lack excitement and become dull.
Despite the lack of substance in the story, there were high expectations from Venkat Prabhu, known for his intriguing screenplays. However, one might doubt whether Custody is indeed his film or not. It may be one of Venkat Prabhu’s weakest works. Although there was more emphasis on the action sequences, they failed to have any significant impact on the film, particularly in the second half. The film falls flat in terms of both story and execution.
The action elements fail to impress, and there is little entertainment in the second half to keep the audience engaged. It was promised that each character in the film would have significance, but Priyamani’s character is disappointing. Sarath Kumar’s role is also unimpressive, with nothing new or exciting. The flashback portion is ordinary and fails to provide any thrilling moments. The songs are another significant drawback.
Technical Aspects:
It is surprising to see such mediocre work from the great Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja. The songs are poor, and the background score is also lacking. A better background score could have improved some scenes. The cinematography by SR Kathir is good, and the editing