A gory tale of revenge

Police and politicians, rowdies 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, as the mean Dolly and an equally up-to-it ACP Shiva play cat and mouse.

What, however, works in favour of the tame tale is Suri's neo-noir, non-linear narrative style that makes Tagaru different. Further, Suri and Shivarajkumar come together after their 2013 Kaddipudi with Shivanna's role reversal here. If he played rowdy Anand seeking to reform and return to mainstream in Kaddipudi, in Tagaru he dons the khaki and goes in mufti, vowing to clean the city of rowdies.

As ACP Shiva seeks to settle scores with Dolly, he loses his beloved Panchami, and Tagaru turns a typical tale of revenge and redemption. By providing a skewed form of justice to deal with the seedy system, the movie unfortunately sends the wrong message.

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

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

Dhananjaya plays the baddie to the hilt while Vashishita gives him company with his evil eyes. Bhavana is adequate in the supportive role as Shivanna's love interest.