Veera Madakari Movie Review

Ade Hale Story!

Movie Review By Raju Shanbhag

Can you imagine the dreaded dacoits of Chambal valley and their hairy siblings in Madhya Pradesh speaking in chaste Kannada? Well, watch Veera Madakari for that once in a lifetime opportunity. But then, if all of them start speaking in pure Hindi, will you be able to make this film run in Karnataka?

Sudeep faces many such logical dilemmas while making this three hour long remake saga. But then, as Ayn Rand once said, being practical depends upon what one wants to practice. Sudeep wants to entertain the crowd and practice the great art of remaking films from other languages. So he borrows liberally from Vikramarkudu, leaves the so called logic to the mercy of reviewers and nitpickers, and goes all out about his business of entertaining the masses.

The story and narrative of Veera Madakari are so old that even a dreaded Chambal dacoit who was hanged to death three decades ago would have watched a film with such a story on Doordharshan years before he died. There is this thief Sudeep, who overacts in many scenes and fights with middle aged women from his colony. And there is this cop Sudeep who pounds the bad guys to the pulp, with one hand firmly on his moustache. But some hairy dacoit from Chambal backstabs him and cop Sudeep is half dead. He dies fully near the interval time, and then the thief Sudeep takes over. He comes to Chambal, smacks some plump Kannada speaking North Indian dacoits and ends the story. In between all this, there is a love track of thief Sudeep with Raagini, who smiles shyly every time camera focuses on her. But at the same time, she keeps exposing her navel giving out completely wrong signals to the audience; just like the north Indian dacoits who speak Kannada.

But before you make your decision to ditch this Madakari, there are a couple of points to ponder upon. To start with, you won’t get to see many north Indian Kannada speaking dacoits in your life. So Veera Madakri may be worth a shot for that single reason! And next, even though the story almost has a status of folklore because of its oldness, it’s pure fun. If you can keep the lack of freshness in the story aside, get ready for some roller coaster ride with one of the finest actors in Kannada we have today, Sudeep. Finally, you will have to watch Sudeep before he completely disappears from the screen! The man is getting thinner with every new movie and it’s no more even called slim!

Sudeep has handled a double role apart from directing this remake. As a director, he knows exactly what the crowd wants and that’s been delivered without fail. As an actor, he’s first rate. The change in body language between cop Sudeep and thief Sudeep is a real treat to watch.

The camera is among the highlights of this film. The same cannot be said about Keeravani’s music. Among the actors, Tennis Krishna is the surprise package as he abstains from making funny voices and still delivers a decent performance. Devaraj appears in a couple of scenes and there’s nothing special about it. Child actor Joysha Christopher’s acting credits go completely to the director in Sudeep.

On a whole, Veera Madakari is not for the people who are looking for some novelty in the film. But if you are looking to have some good old fashioned fun with a good fashioned film where you can comfortably predict every second scene, go watch Veera Madakari.

Even that’s a premium nowadays.