A staid voiceover accompanies a collage of historical dates and events - Super anyone? Jogaiah, the sequel to Jogi too seems a toast to the current political climate.
Sure, Prem leaves no stone unturned to make the Hat-trick Hero’s hundredth film into one unforgettable experience. Cinematographer Nandakumar and V Harikrishna chip in; the art department is up to scratch and technology is put to good use. Still, those who have tracked Shivarajkumar’s films since his debut in Anand are hard pressed to profess themselves satisfied.
The actor’s acting has matured to a point where an immobile face can tell the whole story — as in the scene between Jogaiah and the retired court stenographer - to the delight of his fans and movie buffs alike. He dances like a dream and perhaps nobody, not even Darshan or Sudeep, can wield the underworld’s ‘favourite’ weapon as Shivanna does.
So what seems to hold the fans back? For one, Prem gets his history dates wrong and shades of his Raaj - The Showman are seen in the songs. Next, the North Karnataka dialogues seem contrived. There is no possibility of ‘getting high’ on dialogues alone, thanks to an overdose of similar films.
Third, those looking for spectacular action (read fight) scenes will be disappointed. Like the heroines of other Prem films, Sumeet Kaur also doesn’t have to do much except bare her midriff. For a non-Kannadiga, she tries hard to get her expressions right.
The ‘minor’ characters are all sketched well - be it Gururaj Hoskote or kabaddi player-turned-actor Praveen.
Jogaiah treads the same path as Rajnikanth’s recent films — directors embellishing the superstar’s acting skills and histrionics with awesome technology back-up.
The overall effect of the film is of pixels all beautiful in their own right, but unable to make a meaningful montage. Or perhaps, is it a case of expecting too much?
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