Tagaru Movie Review - A gory tale of revenge and redemption

Police and politicians, rowdies, revenge and rivalry, corruption and conflict form the fulcrum of director Suri’s done to death Tagaru.

A glorious celebration of machismo and underworld gangsta warfare, Tagaru splashes the screen with gut-wrenching gore and bloodshed, as mean and menacing Dolly and equally up to it ACP Shiva play the cat and mouse, one-upmanship game.

What, however, makes Tagaru’s rather tame, time-tested trite tale a talking point, is Suri once again adopts neo-noir, non-linear narrative style to present his pulsating, pulse pounding plot, which flits forwards and backwards, to make it delectably different despite being formulaic.

This idiom of cinematic narration, ensures novelty and niftyness, certain surefootedness providing Tagaru the zip and style to be engrossed in it.

Further, Suri and Shivarajkumar combine again after their 2013 Kaddipudi outing with Shivanna’s role reversal here. If in Kaddipudi he was rowdy Anand seeking to reform and return to mainstream, in Tagaru, he dons the khaki and goes mufti vowing to clean the City of its rabid rowdies and rogue elements that infest it, paying them back in the same coin.

Of course, what is off-putting is that machu, langu and blazing return to screen in this blood spilling, body felling fare, becoming currency of transaction between vainglorious criminals and wronged encounter specialist cop, with penchant for pouting wiseacres, as they chase and confront one another.

As ACP Shiva seeks to settle score with Dolly, given to womanising and lording ways with the law thumbing his nose at them, which results in death of Shiva’s beloved Panchami, Tagaru turns a typical tale of revenge and redemption. Tagaru by providing a skewed form of justice to deal with the seedy system unfortunately sends the wrong message to the audience who blindly take to it in real life.

Tagaru, despite being Shivanna’s flick, is Manvitha Harish’s show actually. She makes a capital of her role as Vasu aka Priya, a liquor swigging and drug sniffing hippie, drooling and falling all over a keep your distance Shiva.

Shivarajkumar as the no-nonsense, stiff and stoned faced, straitjacketed serious cop on a singular mission does justice to his role and has his fans lustily go delirious and bring the theatre down.

The rest of the cast too chip him with competent performances with Dhananjaya playing the baddie to the hilt with Vashishita too giving him right company with his evil eyes. Bhavana is adequate in the supportive role to Shivanna as his love interest.

Rating: *** (Above Average)