Custody

The mixture of dark humour and thriller seems to be the right fit for Venkat Prabhu. It's rare to see thrillers like this in Telugu. Welcome Venkat Prabhu sir. Thank you for filling the void.

Chay, absolutely killed it. Glad that he picked this role.

People who have been criticizing or picking out things that are trivial are just shocked or unsettled of how word of mouth is the only thing that's pulling the audience to the theaters. (At the time this review was written).

No one really expected much but this film proves yet again 'Content is King'.

Yes the music apart from the BGM had its flaws but it's a minor inconvenience. It'll be remembered as a classic in the industry for sure!

The essence of this film can be summarised in a line delivered by Chay to Jiiva, "These serious lines are not fitting for you... You follow the normal, jolly route that works for you". If VP follows this, the director will be happier.

The problem in this film is that all twists and turns are normal, easily predictable and cliched. At least, the film makes you sweat with the nail-biting tension running throughout the film. Naga-chaitanya was given due respect, and a lot of mass build-up scenes with effects. So, we cannot say Andhra-Tamil concept was a flaw.

The heroine is a great addition to the film, with her own complex equations brought into the dynamics. Aravind Swamy's complex witty character is a welcome breeze in this otherwise intense film. Ramki's swag with an army machine gun also makes quite a scene in a tense turn.

However, all scenes give us a feel that we have already seen these somewhere else. Jiiva's character is in particular one-dimensional, with a foolhardy nature. With such a low situational awareness, how could he become a cop?! (Not noticing hazards falling in a chaotic site). Maybe this explains why the cops were so weak in this movie. One welcome break is that Premji somehow works as a villain with a disgusting, vile presence. (The politicians were like jokers in the film. Sarath's character was at least demonic in his smoking scenes. The car driver who tries to give a lift, but lusts after the heroine though - could he get any sillier?)

We have to admit that one major blunder was to let go of Aravind Swamy's character in the end, just for the sake of innovation. The following scenes were even more disastrous. With better writing, and perhaps some more character depth to all roles, this could have been different. Still, if one has nothing better to do, one can watch this film for the unique 90's style filmmaking.

Maybe the weakest work from VP till date. Even his earlier flop movies at least had some kind of half baked content in them. But 'Custody' has nothing new to offer. I felt bored all along and very difficult to sit through.

The only thing that stood out for me is the cinematography. The water sequences are good and I am sure the makers must have gone through a lot of challenging situations to bring this output, but, what's the point in trying all these unique film making ideas without a proper story.

Chay did his best but the character itself is very ordinary. In fact all the characters in this movie are just ordinary.

Plot is very thin and routine with no conflict among the characters.

I don't know if VP got confused in dealing a bilingual or if he is genuinely out of ideas, but it didn't feel like a VP film at all.

Overall, a disappointing movie. Forgettable.

Watched the Tamil version. This Venkat Prabhu's hunt deals with an honest constable stumbling upon two suspects during a night stroll. He arrests them suspecting drunk and disorderly but turns out, one of them is a dreaded criminal and the other, a CBI officer who had just arrested him. The criminal has to be produced in Bengaluru court and the state government is trying to stop that from happening. How they face all odds to make it to the court on time forms the story.

The problem with the screenplay is it barely throws any surprises. One can easily predict the main villain at the beginning itself. The love story between Naga Chaitanya and Krithi Shetty barely registers. Neither the actors of Aravind Swamy, Sarath Kumar, Ramki are given meaty roles. The bad vfx doesn't help Venkat Prabhu's vision considering the whole movie is one prolonged chase sequences hoping to be thrilling.

The flashback felt forced and simplifying the story to that extent made a certain character's death pointless and the film too ends on a joke which could've been fine if not for the main tone of the film. The signature humor one expects from Venkat Prabhu simply doesn't sync in this type of serious film.

Custody, directed by Venkat Prabhu, is an entirely soulless movie amid huge expectations. The story follows a police officer who is assigned to take a criminal to court but the police department wants the criminal dead. The wafer-thin storyline sounded interesting on paper but the writing has ruined the execution. The writing was loosely written and it did not make sense as a whole. The screenplay has made the film go even worse, prolonging the movie. As the movie continued, the film was creating more boredom. The flashback episode was written cliche and made the film predictable. The direction went utterly wrong, despite having decent expectations of the director. The performances were decent with Aravind Swamy's performance being the best. The only highlight of the film was the action sequences, especially the underwater and police station sequences, which were stylishly designed. The music was not composed well and was not suited to the script at all. The production value was decent for the movie. Overall, the film is a lackluster film not leaving much to watch.