Bagheera

I was excited to watch Bagheera, because it was a story by Prashanth Neel, and that Hombale was producing it. On top of that, it was a vigilante superhero film. All three ingredients set for a massive blockbuster that should've changed the landscape of action-superhero storytelling in India. And as a Telugite, I wanted to support good Kannada films, after the debacle that was Martin, and my own love for the land of Karnataka.

I was really geared up to witness something defining, and guess what... Boy, does it fail to live up to the hype that I had from a Prashant Neel story in the hands of another vision. And why was that?

What this film had was a crazy, out of the box idea about a policeman-gone-vigilante. I really found the concept to be interesting, and pretty unique as I've seldom seen law enforcement officers take up the mantle of a vigilante to exact justice upon criminals. This was a cool reversal of the trope of superheroes coming from ordinary backgrounds.

BINARY APPROACH: To understand why it didn't work for me, I'd have to say that characters don't seem to develop beyond binaries. Where the first half sets up the conflict between righteousness and corruption, where the protagonist (VEDANTH, played by Sri Murali) is a noble police officer and the system around him is being corrupted, the noble cop abandons hope and takes the law in his own hands. Beyond that, the protagonist has zero character development, except he has to overcome obstacles and kill people. That's it.

And then comes the antagonist (RANA, played by Garuda Ram), introduced sporadically in the first half and becomes the focal point in the second half. This is where the movie truly and absolutely fails--totally fails--to build an interesting and menacing antagonist. All attempts here to build an interesting antagonist goes in vain, to make him come off as a generic, two-dimensional villain with no depth or character arc to him. He is a pure villain for the villain sake and offers nothing of thoughtfulness. His one snippet of his childhood cruelty is reduced to a caricature-ish portrayal of evil, rather than something of human value or tragic backstory or so.

This binary approach to the antagonist, and the protagonist, fail to inject life into the narrative, despite glimpses of moments which offer you a look into the flaws of the hero (him drinking in the uniform and losing hope and stuff). But there's not a single emotional flaw or vulnerability in the antagonist, making him come off as cartoony. Maybe it's my fault to expect well-developed antagonists from a Prashant Neel story, so I'll leave that aside.

FIRST HALF GOOD, SECOND HALF BAD: Okay, I don't like this kind of argument because it invalidates the movie-going experience to the same binary nonsense above.

Because the fundamental flaw is not the making of the second half, but the 2nd act and 3rd act itself. The first half is pretty good, where the setup to the first act really engages you with the Mysore backdrop, some fun comedy with the station officers, some drama between the corrupt locals and the uncorrupt Vedanth, interesting goonies and bad guys, and some killer shots of "Roaring Star" Sri Murali walking in his police uniform. When Vedanth is overburdened by the system to stop being so noble, he loses hope, and in his hopeless state, he witnesses something very brutal that he changes his mind completely to become a vigilante called Bagheera. Bagheera goes on a rampage, killing the goons responsible for the brutality he witnessed, and that pushes him deep into the main plot/conflict. The main plot/conflict that Bagheera has to confront is that the antagonist plans a shipment of people to send to Srilanka, where they harvest their organs for black-market; and Bagheera has to stop the antagonist from doing so, while evading the crackdown of Bagheera by the CBI after a corrupt police officer brother of a CBI officer (GURU, played by Prakash Raj) gets murdered by Bagheera. The main plot of organ harvesting, with the subplot of the CBI investigating Bagheera, forms the main story which doesn't really explore anything beyond, "Bad guy does bad things, until good guy comes and kills the bad guys." (forget about the mother who inspires him to be a superhero, the dramatic conflict about corruption with his dad that goes nowhere, and the irrelevant heroine that expires with no rhyme or reason, just to push the story forward) At least, Prashant Neel did a better job with the catharsis when the good guy kills the bad guy than what Dr. Suri does half-heartedly here. It comes off more a commercial potboiler nonsense that plagues Telugu cinema, as opposed to something that's new-age. One wonders why Hombale would even go in that direction when it brought a refined, Hollywood aesthetic with KGF, Kantara and Salaar.

Anyways, coming back to the plot, the second half becomes a monotonous chore, as the plot moves from one scene to the next, without any real conflict for the protagonist to confront. There's some passable fight scenes, as the CBI tracks down his identity, and that identity leaks to the antagonist Rana, where he captures the love interest of Bagheera and gives him a choice to save the civilians or his lover; and it is from that point, the film turns into a pile of hot mess. The police capture Bagheera and then when he's taken for an encounter, the twist is that Bagheera is treated innocent by Guru, after actually knowing why Bagheera did that, and then lets him off with the location of Rana. Bagheera goes to find Rana, where he is in a cargo train enroute, to traffic the humans he kidnapped to Sri Lanka. Bagheera kills Rana and his goons, and saves the day. That's it. "Bad guy does bad things, until good guy comes and kills the bad guys." After some half-hearted set-up for a sequel, the movie ends.

Overall, I have to say, by the end of film, I was pretty exhausted despite the exhilarating enthusiasm I had in the beginning, for the entertainment I was looking forward to. Despite great cinematography, a killer soundtrack by Ajaneesh Loknath, the film leaves nothing to take away (except the song, "Rudhira Dhaara"), no real "elevations" that you expect from a Prashant Neel story.

Better Script could have made this well-mounted movie more exciting & enjoyable.

Acting of the hero is good, but, he looked his age in many scenes, not exactly 24 or 25. Cinematography, music, set design OK.

But, script is not tight. Nor ,the details.

There should have been more details about the negative characters . Should have offered a non-linear storyline, some more twists.

Vedanth's father's role is absurd. His dialogue & gesticulations in his last appearance were poor in taste. Police Commissioner 's action in stopping Vedanth is abrupt - there should have been more emphasis in developing this sub-plot.

Vedanth aspires to be a superhero and jumps from a building, fracturing his leg. His mother assures him that the one who wears a cape is not the only superhero by giving his cop father as an example. Vedanth decides to become a cop like his father. Years later, he has achieved his dream and gets his posting in Mangaluru. Vedanth being a strict and honest police officer, raids the criminals in his jurisdiction and tries to clean up the city. However, he is soon stopped by his superior which shatters his dream to serve his best as a cop. The atrocities don't stop, forcing Vedanth to don a mask and mete out vigilante justice as Bagheera. What happens when he is pitted against a ruthless villain Rana, forms rest of the story.

Narrated in 7 chapters, Bagheera is an ambitious vigilante action film whose story is written by Prashanth Neel. On paper it definitely sounds good but it is the lackluster screenplay by Dr. Suri that undermines the story. The first half is quite below average with back to back outdated scenes involving Vedanth the cop. The film works only when Bagheera enters and that too when he is in action. Dr. Suri failed to take advantage of a origin story and the token supporting cast get too many generic scenes. The action blocks do stand out and it is indeed good to not show Bagheera as invincible. The half baked love story doesn't contribute much.

It is the second half where it focuses more on Bagheera going after the main baddie and parallely, CBI starts the hunt for Bagheera. This intriguing plot is again underwhelmingly executed and though, Vedanth prepping himself as Bagheera with gadgets and stuff is a cool idea, the way the director presents it instantly loses it's impact. I get it, superhero/vigilante films are not to be taken too seriously but the unlikely team Vedanth forms is laughable. The other negative is the two songs that are forgettable. This leaves Bagheera with the action blocks and an ambitious climax fight on a freight train. The vfx is good with few obvious glitches. The vision of Bagheera should have been truly backed with good writing, which sadly doesn't happen. I am going with a lenient rating for the attempt but the film offers nothing memorable.

The Pan India phenomenon that has touched the Kannada film industry in the last few years has become more of a bane to the Kannada cinema of late. Some filmmakers have tried too hard to make their movie to push for a Pan India release despite the lack of quality. This has also resulted in movies taking a longer time to be released after having spent a lot of money on the hype throughout its making cycle. There have been some good movies in the mix in the past year but Bagheera is that commercial movie which brings the much needed limelight back to Kannada industry. The vigilante/superhero angle is a rarely experimented genre in Kannada cinema and Bagheera does it quite well. Kudos to Hombale films and the director Dr Suri for promoting this movie the right way and not overhyping it.

The initial teaser and trailer of the movie looked good but it also made me very skeptical on how the movie looked heavily inspired by Black Panther or Batman. While it cannot be ruled out entirely, the director acknowledges the influence of Hollywood superheroes within the script. The story is not very unique or mind blowing but it is not too predictable either. While the movie being divided into chapters works sometimes, it sometimes feels abrupt. Some scenes in the first half are very short and the movie cuts into the next scene without much of a transition. The movie very practically portrays being a part of a corrupt system as a cop. The director very crisply integrates the family sentiment without too much drama. There is also a very good pay-off at the end for the same. As soon as the vigilante chapter of the movie kicks in, the action sequences keep on coming. The action sequences in the first half are artistically violent and provide some goosebump moments, The action sequences post the interval are slick at times but mostly over the top and not entirely practical. The climax fight seems very hurried and unconvincing and could have been set in a better surroundings. Cinematography and music work very well for most parts of the movie. The background score and the main title theme is very important for a movie like this and Ajneesh Loknath does a good job at not making it seem jarring. The songs mostly play in the background and there are no unnecessary song placements. There is no separate track for comedy but there are few lighthearted moments well integrated by using the main characters.

Sriimurali is a very underrated action star of South Indian cinema and it is always good to see him in roles like this. He has a very good screen presence to do action/mass movies like these. While Ugramm is still celebrated to this day, he hasn't really got a great boost from his releases post Ugramm apart from Mufti (which was a multistarrer). Bagheera is a much needed break for him and I hope he chooses more crispy scripts like this in the upcoming days. He looks the part throughout and is definitely the soul of the movie. Garuda Ram as the primary antagonist does look and act menacing but his character's evil arc isn't very convincing. There are many other co-antagonists (not sure if that is the right way of putting it) who feed very well into Bagheera's action episodes but their roles are very less explored. Rukmini Vasanth as the female lead is near perfect in her limited role. Prakash Raj and Rangayana Raghu's characters definitely stand out among the rest of the supporting characters. Both characters have great character arcs.

Bagheera may not be the most awaited or hyped Kannada Pan India release but it is a quality film for the scale that is. This sure is a refreshing Kannada action/superhero movie without any jarring elements.

This film brings Western superhero grandeur to real-life scenarios, with KGF/Hombale-style cinematography and massy dialogues. It's packed with intense, disturbing, and violent moments, making for a high-impact, gripping start.

The family bond established early on is heartfelt, creating an emotional anchor for the film. The romantic track between the leads feels fresh at first, with both characters strong in their own ways and sharing morals, but as the story progresses, it falls into the usual tropes and loses its charm.

The screenplay, though action-packed, feels rushed due to fast-paced editing, and at times, the choppy cuts fail to make a significant impact during the action sequences.

The film does a good job of presenting a societal dilemma around the definition of a hero. It explores the tension between an ideal, moral world and the harsh, practical reality where circumstances force people to compromise their values.

While the first half sets up a lot of conflict, the second half becomes more engaging, introducing new characters and stronger action pieces that elevate the story. As the story unfolds, it becomes predictable, with familiar twists. The final showdown feels dragged out, and a tighter edit would've made for a stronger conclusion. Still, the message remains thought-provoking.

While not perfect, the film is a commendable attempt at something new in the mass film genre. It's a one-time watch for fans of high-octane action and dramatic twists. The sequel hint leaves room for more, but personally, it didn't spark much anticipation.