Arjun Gowda movie review: Full of action but weak script

It is one of the movies that have created a lot of hype. During the promotional activities, director Lucky Shankar has claimed that he was inspired by the killings of Gauri Lankesh and MM Kalburgi. As if to prove his claim, the lead character is the son of a private TV channel owner. The director narrates how such gory incidents that include assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and other prominent personalities have an adverse impact on common man.

However, the director loses grip over the screenplay and allows other incidents to be important in the movie.

The movie begins with Arjun Gowda (Prajwal Devaraj), in an inebriated condition, accepts supari to kill his mother Janaki (Rekha), the proprietor of a 24x7 Kannada News Channel, from an anti-social element. However, he realizes that he is assigned to kill his mother at the eleventh hour.

At this juncture, director Lucky Shankar, in a flash back, explains the circumstances that made Arjun Gowda to go to Mangalore from Bengaluru and how he happened to fall in love with Jahnavi (Priyanka Thimmesh), the daughter of a businessman (Deepak Shetty) and how Jahnavi is compelled to marry a person from Singapore and how she lands up behind bars in Singapore. What happens to Arjun Gowda and Jahnavi is the climax.

Prajwal Devaraj is at his best in song sequences, stunts and delivering punchy dialogues but the weak and unconvincing script has played the spoilsport. Priyana Thimmesh looks glamorous. She has to go a long way to establish herself as a heroine. Rekha, known as Sparsha Rekha, is convincing as a concerned mother and a proprietor of a TV channel. Sadhu Kokila, as a salesman of luxury cars, and Kaddipudi Chandru, who enjoys free rides in luxury cars, provide the much needed comedy. Rahul Dev appears in two to three sequences.

Songs are good and music by Dharma Vish is peppy.

It is worth watching by mass audiences who crave action-oriented movies.