Movie: Jaguar
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Channambika Films
Cast: Nikhil Kumar, Deepti Sati, Brahmanandam, Rao Ramesh, Jagapati Babu, Sampath Raj, Adithya Menon, Ramya Krishna, Vidyullekha Raman, Avinash, Adarsh Balakrishna, Tamannaah (Special appearance in a song)
Story: Vijayendra Prasad
Music: S S Thaman
Cinematography: Manoj Paramahamsa
Editing: Ruben
Producers: Anitha Kumaraswamy
Screenplay, dialogue & Direction: A Mahadev
Release Date: October 6, 2016
When a scion from India's influential political family debuts into films, curiosity arises. That is what happened with 'Jaguar', the launch pad of Nikhil Kumar who is son of former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son and also grandson of H D Deve Gowda.
Since Baahubali writer Vijayendra Prasad has written the script, it further raised the expectations. So how has the film fared?
Story:
S S Krishna (Nikhil) studies in a medical college, which is owned by media mogul (Sampath) and his friend. Krishna claims to be orphan likes his classmate (Priya) whose brother is an idealistic senior medical student.
Krishna who kills people wearing a mask starts provoking Priya's brother to become a leader. What is his motive behind it? Why he is killing people with the name Jaguar? Will CBI officer (Jagapathi Babu) nab him before he kills the villains?
Artistes’ Performances:
Nikhil Kumar neither has looks nor acting skills. Nevertheless he is good at dances and fights. New girl as heroine is just okay.
The film is bearable because of the presence of Rao Ramesh and Ramya Krishna in the second half. Sampath and Aditya Menen have played routine villain roles.
Jagapathi Babu is wasted as CBI officer. Brahmanandam's comedy is irritating. Adarsh Balakrishna shines in a positive role.
Technical Excellence:
The film has rich production and technical values. Too much of money is spent on making it visually grand. Cinematography, artwork and action stunts are top class. Thaman's music is mediocre; he has used couple of his earlier songs including Racegurram's in the film.
Highlights:
Production values
Drawback:
Formula storyline
Predictable packaging
Hero and Heroine
Analysis:
All big shots launch their sons in a movie that is made with huge budget, but they forget to take care about story. We have seen many such examples in the past. "Jaguar" has same problem.
The movie that launched former Prime Minister H D Deva Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumar has story by 'Baahubali' writer Vijayendra Prasad but the story is nothing but a slightly modified version of last year's Ravi Teja starrer "Bengal Tiger".
In Ravi Teja's "Bengal Tiger", a politician for his own benefit puts blame on hero's father that leads to his death, and years later hero takes revenge on the politician who killed his father in a certain way.
In "Jaguar" too, the conflict and twist of the story is almost same. The Baahubali writer just dished old story and handed the script to his longtime assistant Mahadev who narrated the story in the style of 'Dhoom 3' and 'Kick'. But the movie lacks the kick of those movies because of director's lack of grip on narration. His first film "Mitrudu" starring Balakrishna suffered the same fate.
The film boasts high production values, as the producers (who also happen to be hero's parents) put all the money to make it a glossy. There are enough of big names in major roles like Jagapathi Babu, Ramya Krishna, Rao Ramesh and Brahmanandam but none of them make any impact.
Though Rao Ramesh and Ramya Krishna bring some emotions to the film it doesn't help much. Jagapathi Babu as CBI officer looks like a clown.
To be fair, despite not having good looks to qualify as a hero Nikhil Gowda scores on ease and dances.
The film does have somewhat an engaging first half. On the whole, "Jaguar" is a formula film with the lack luster narration.
Bottom-line: Not Jaguar, Just An Ambassador
