'Law' review: Revenge drama lacks finesse

Film: Law

Language: Kannada

Director: Raghu Samarth

Cast: Ragini Prajwal, Hebbale Krishna, Achyuth Kumar, Rajesh Nataranga, Mukhyamuntri Chandru

Stars: 2.5

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Law’, the first direct-to-OTT release from the Kannada industry in the time of Covid-19, has a good premise but falters due to lack of focus from director Raghu Samarth.

Nandini (Ragini Prajwal), a young lawyer, is gang-raped one night and a group of men from affluent families are at fault. Nandini decides to fight the powerful system that stops her from getting justice at every turn.

‘Law’ attempts to showcase how women bear the brunt of deep-seated patriarchy in our society. It tries to portray the existence of rape culture around us. In bits and pieces, the film reflects the sufferings of a rape survivor. However, none of these noble ideas produce the desired effect thanks to Samarth’s poor execution.

The lack of directorial finesse is blatant in this revenge drama. The director and editor (Shrikanth) do not let the scenes breathe. The staging seems so poor that the twist at the interval block fails to shock us.

The film should have remained true to its genre. Instead, the director accommodates comedy scenes. The tonal shift pulls the movie down and is an example of cringe-worthy writing. The oddly placed song doesn't help the film struggling screenplay.

Ragini Prajwal shows the jitters of acting in her maiden film. The shock, angst and pain of a rape survivor are missing in her expressions. Her acting is decent in the courtroom scenes, and perhaps, under a seasoned filmmaker, she can prove to be a solid performer.

The final portions are interesting. Senior actors Achyuth Kumar, Hebbale Krishna, Rajesh Nataranga and Mukhyamantri Chandru add great value to their characters. If not for these, ‘Law’ would have been a complete disaster.