‘Shankar IPS’ is a routine commercial potboiler (Kannada Movie Review)

Film: “Shankar IPS”; Cast: Vijay, Raagini, Catherine Tresa, Rangayana Raghu, Avinash and others; Writer-Director: M.S. Ramesh; Producer: K. Manju; Cinematographer: Dasari Seenu; Composer: Guru Kiran; Rating: **

“Shankar IPS” is the latest addition to the list of many Kannada commercial potboilers about honest police officers’ drive against corrupt, cruel and cantankerous people.

Director M.S. Ramesh, who has already made films revolving around daring and committed police officers, has once again come out with a formulaic film that is a tedious watch. And the second half, which has too many lengthy monologues, tests the patience of the audiences. The viewers will definitely find it boring.

The film’s hero Vijay has a tailor-made role and he seems to have worked hard to get six packs for his role. But this is surely not enough to entertain the audience. The film’s predictable story has cliched and preachy sequences.

It seems as if the director had Dialogue King Sai Kumar in mind while writing the script and dialogues. Vijay, who has always excelled in action sequences, mouths silly dialogues that sounds outdated.

Ramesh has to be, however, applauded for including a contemporary issue of acid attacks on unsuspecting, defenceless women in the story. Unfortunately, he doesn’t focus on the issue that it deserves and passes off in a superficial manner.

The director is more interested in presenting Vijay in fights and tempting song sequences which may embarrass the female audiences. And not to forget those preachy dialogues that lack substance. The director has included dialogues related to parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s and Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Amir Kasab’s hanging which may draw whistles from the front benchers.

The story goes like this - Shankar Prasad, an honest police officer, is prepared to take on any force that tries to stall his attempts to take on criminals, particularly who are engaged in attacking and abusing women.

He does not take orders from his superiors before carrying out his avowed intentions of attacking criminals. But he is asked to resign from his post after he takes up the cause of a successful model who becomes a victim of an acid attack.

After being sacked, Shankar decides to take the law into his own hands and kill all the criminals who are engaged in acid attacks.

Vijay suits the role well, but he is certainly out of place uttering outrageous and meaningless dialogues. Actresses Raagini and Catherine indulge in skin show, but yet prove their talents in a few sequences. Rangayana Raghu is too monotonous in his role, while other artists like Avinash and Shobharaj perform with ease.

Guru Kiran’s music is average but the background score is much better. Nothing appreciative could be said about the quality of the cinematography.

“Shankar IPS” is a predictable commercial potboiler.