'Mosagallu' is out in theatres today (March 19). The film, starring an ensemble cast, is about a scam pulled off by the technical support team of an IT company in Hyderabad. Let's find out what works and what doesn't in the movie.
Story
Arjun and Anu are fraternal twins played by Vishnu Manchu and Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu, respectively. They enter into an unholy nexus with a call centre owner (Navdeep) and Naveen Chandra's evil character to execute an income-tax scam targetting naive American citizens. They are based in Hyderabad but their scam has ramifications in America. What happens when ACP Kumar (Suneil Shetty) senses that a huge scam is playing out under his nose? Can the culprits escape the long arm of the law? That's the crux of the story.
Performances
The film is not a performance-based one. As such, what the actors do to make the audience believe in the authenticity of the gigantic scam is beyond the pale of analysis. The acts are uniformly unexciting, with Kajal Aggarwal managing to evoke tension in spurts. Manchu Vishnu is good enough but he should have looked better in the second half in terms of the graveness factor. Naveen Chandra and Navdeep are easily overshadowed by Suniel Shetty, who plays an upright cop. Raja Ravindra, Ruhi Singh, Nagineedu and others don't leave any impact.
Technical aspects
Sheldon Chau's cinematography is as ordinary as Gautham Raju's editing. This film needed smart frames, especially given that a lot of drama happens inside closed doors. Sam CS, who is a Kollywoodian, somehow fails to deliver a dekko. The BGM is generic.
Stun Siva's stunts are sketchy. The production design should have been far better.
Analysis
'Mosgallu', which literally means scammers, believes that dialogues are a good substitute for drama. Herein lies the film's biggest drawback. Instead of visuals and exciting modus operandi, we have characters repeatedly parroting that they are pulling off a big scam.
Even when the investigators (both American and Indian) are around, nothing really takes off. The scammers change their methods and introduce a new one in the second half. At this point, the drama should have become even more thrilling. Instead, the screenplay leaves us baffled. All that we understand is that some call centre employee working for the scammers is talking with their American prey. We don't comprehend anything more than this even when Manchu Vishnu's character explains things in a scene. This incomprehension is not because of a lack of ability to fathom a scam but because of the way the technology-enabled scam is detailed out visually.
Kajal's character is a victim of abuse. We expect her character to be meaty. Instead, we get some superficial characterization.
Naveen Chandra looks mercurial and Navdeep's character is not fleshed out well. The climax is made dumb by the fact that Suniel Shetty's character
Closing Remarks
'Mosagallu' fails to find its mojo despite its wow-inducing premise.
