Movie review: Khatarnaak

Khatarnaak
Kannada (A)
Director: Malavalli Saikrishna
Cast: Ravi Kale, Roopika and others

Is cinema mirroring society or vice versa? The question persists after watching Khatarnaak, the ‘second’ take on convicted serial rapist and murderer Umesh Reddy, by ‘debutant’ director Malavalli Saikrishna who was earlier known for his verbal wealth creating entertainment onscreen.

This version of Reddy’s life plays out on predictable lines of how surroundings mould a man’s character. Khatarnaak even goes to the extent of putting across, rather crudely, the view that the more a mother encourages her offsprings’ sins, the heavier will be the price to pay.

Dealing with the early life of Reddy, Saikrishna keeps the film’s tone as raw as possible, Jo Ni Harsha’s editing keeping pace with the innumerable beeps colouring the ‘story’.

This approach allows the director to showcase a bit of mother’s sentiment, a bit of social responsibility lecture, etc. With an audience fed on daily diet of crime, sex and violence, the preachy parts don’t even get derision by way of response.

Ravi Kale’s Umesh doesn’t evoke fear for those who have watched Umesh earlier. Saikrishna voices popular desire by getting the ‘protagonist’ to hang. But by then, another portion of flesh-and-blood show has passed by, leaving no stimulus for the mind, but that of depravity. Sadhu Kokila’s music gets louder towards the end and M R Seenu’s camera captures horror as “respectably” as possible. Khatarnaak is not worthy of even accidental watching.