'The Ghost', produced by Sri Venkateswara Cinemas and North Star Entertainment, was released in theatres today.
Story
Agent Vikram (Nagarjuna) is a former Interpol sleuth who comes with a traumatic past. His estranged sister Anu (Gul Panag) and her daughter Aditi (Anikha Surendran) are in trouble because of some unknown enemies. It is now up to Vikram to march ahead and defeat a crime-corporate syndicate that is after his sister and niece. In this, he partners with Priya (Sonal Chauhan), an Interpol agent who is also his lady love.
Performances
After broad acts in films like 'Bangarraju' and 'Manmadhudu 2', Nagarjuna shows that he is adept at being intense even when the script is not well-written. Although he is not better than he was in 'Wild Dog', he is okayish in the titular role. Gul Panag's performance doesn't register, while Anikha Surendran gets to be versatile. Sonal appeared effortless all the way in the promos but she is merely average in the film.
Manish Chaudhari has got a badly-written part, so also the likes of Bilal Hossein, Ravi Varma and Srikanth Iyengar, the last of whom is utterly loud. Jayaprakash (in a cameo) is also seen.
Technical aspects
The songs (composed by Bharatt-Saurabh) are not quite integral to the film. It's Mark K Robin's BGM that proves to be shockingly inadequate. It's either loud or uninspired. After 'Agent Sai Srinivas Athreya' and other films, the composer had a great opportunity to produce a prized score.
Mukesh G's cinematography shows vast improvement over his previous outings such as 'Nela Ticket' and 'Paisaa Vasool'. Director Praveen Sattaru repeats his 'PSV Garuda Vega' editor Dharmendra Kakarala.
Analysis
'The Ghost' has been conceived as a true-blue action thriller. Make no mistakes, director Praveen Sattaru puts a dozen action sequences on the table. You might count up to eight of them. No, you are not too involved in the film to count the other fights. It's just that you stop caring.
Most of the fights have been executed in an amateurish fashion; they don't offer any highs. The final action block is not the 'epic moment' it was supposed to be. The villain and his gunmen/swordsmen behave either ridiculously or monotonously. Everyone gets killed so that Agent Vikram can walk away with the moniker of 'The Ghost'.
Even the love story has been staged with no zeal. Sonal's flamboyance is what you remember more than the emotions between Vikram and Priya. A few moments involving Anikha's character work.
The film is constantly in a hurry to inject one fight after another. There is no sense of urgency; most of the actors are unfamiliar and they make you feel as if you are watching a dubbed movie.
Closing Remarks
'The Ghost' is a misfire. It makes for a tedious watch.
