After thought-provoking love stories, Shashank turns his hand to action with ‘Jarasandha’. And what a story?! Unlike most of his peers, the director handles this tale of a man whose evil is manifest only in his lust for money and power, quite well.
‘Jarasandha’ mirrors the decadent ways society has embraced with irresponsible glee and greed.
The director attempts to warn against this unnatural, and consequently dangerous trend, but only just.
Much before the interval, the story turns predictable while retaining some suspense.
Post interval, it is an unabashed, but funnily conservative, display of evil as a virtue in the hero. Praneetha’s role held possibilities, but peters down to little more than a typical gangster’s moll.
Vijay is evil incarnate but with a touch of indecision and still requires an extra push of conviction in places. The Vijay-Rangayana Raghu ‘jodi’ throws up another rivetting performance.
Devaraj is adequate while Roopadevi continues from where she left off in ‘Matte Mungaaru’. Shekhar Chandra and Arjun Janya add that necessary tension to the drama while Mohan B Kere and Harsha have acquitted themselves well in their respective departments.
The only drawback, if it can be called that, is the ‘message’ getting buried under the avalanche of tastefully shot songs, which are not necessarily relevant. But when ‘old fashioned’ morals and values have restricted circulation, does this ‘shortcoming’ matter?