Cast: Shivarajkumar, Vijay Raghavendra, Gururaj, Yogesh, Pranitha Subash, Prakash Belawadi, Sharmiela Mandre, Baby Parinitha, Girija Lokesh
Director: Narasimha
Rating: 1.5 stars
This film comes packed with predictable masala — corrupt politics, cross border infiltration, terrorism in the valley, armed forces, investigative journalism, court martials, family sentiments, etc. Incidentally, this list goes on, while a mass leader fights till the very end. While the audience fights the will to leave! There is a veritable battery of actors lined up to play various supporting roles in this Shivarajkumar starrer where he essays the role of Shivaraj, who leads them all as a mass leader. He is an undercover operative, which is revealed only in the end! The rest of the actors are support cast with unconditional loyalty towards him.
Loaded with all the commercial elements from an introductory fight scene, cinematic songs, killing baddies in style and challenging opponents with khadak dialogues, unfortunately the commercial spree is over the top in a film where nothing stands out. With the mass leader in prime focus, director Narasimha attempts for a smash hit but with so many issues crumbling and going head to head, the deviation, extreme and needlessly complex plots keep the audience disconnected. Further, its senseless loud background music doesn’t help either.
In the first few scenes, Shivaraj is up against corrupt politicians with an agenda of cleaning up election malpractices. He later scares off illegal Bangladeshi residents who are being misused by local politicians for their vote bank. Soon, the focus shifts to terrorists, a sequence in a foreign location to track down a kingpin of child trafficking ensues. Then comes a belly dance performed by the beautiful Sharmiela Mandre, who plays an investigative journalist.
Vijay Raghavendra and Giriraj are Shivaraj loyalists and Yogesh, a local don, assigned to kill Shivaraj, also turns loyalist! Pranitha is limited to a couple of scenes and a song. Right from the beginning, the makers’ logo, a copy of Warner Bros, this copy paste routine lacks essence. For instance, the popular slow motion fight sequence from the 2009 English movie Sherlock Holmes is copied, but here the outcome is laughable. Also, there are numerous instances which only get worse as the plot thickens. Apart from a couple of sensible patriotic scenes, and Shivarajkumar at his usual best, this Mass Leader is certainly not worth watching unless Hat-Trick Hero fans want to see their star in several shades, including an Army man.
