Director: P. Vasu
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Vedhika, Sadhu Kokila, Vaishali Deepak, Urvashi, Vinaya Prasad, Ashok, Avinash
After his previous remake blockbuster in Kannada - Drishya, the veteran filmmaker is back with another murder mystery wrapped with his trademark horror clichés and filled with hallucination, spirit takeovers and humour in the dark!
While the soul of the film is no doubt the combination of his two similar ventures – Apthamitra and Aptha Rakshaka, the biggest blockbusters, both featuring Sahasasimha late Dr Vishnuvardhan in the lead, Vasu opts Shivarajkumar here to solve a murder mystery as a special CID officer. However, this director’s CID officer is a very sophisticated officer who drives around in a high-end luxury car and seems like the state police has dedicated an entire elite force at his disposal to solve one suicide case which is suspected to be a murder.
With couple of days for Valentine’s Day, the director has just smashed a brilliant idea to impress the special one. He uses the new age technology to such a level that the hero captures his live action snatching a chain snatcher. Well beat that! There is more, as the love interest of the victim shows a video footage of the victim singing (while he was alive) but for our surprise the video also shows the footage of even her who was all the time busy capturing others! Amazed whether there are any such handy cams available in the market!
The biggest advantage for Vasu in his previous successes – music is missing dearly, all thanks to V. Harikrishna and his ‘brilliant’ compositions which most of the times reminds of some else’s work. This time, he just pulls it straight from one of Om Shanthi Om composition which was again a blast from the past.
While the CID officer is handed over the toughest case, Shiva finds his perfect match portrayed by Vedhika whom he gets married in a jiffy. While he decides to take his newly wedded wife along with him while he is investigating the ‘reopened’ case, there comes the twist with his rented house located next to a burial ground. Sadhu is the big relief and does it quite humourlessly. Thereafter the spirit takes over, and the murder victim plays its soul’full’ part by taking control of CID officer’s wife, who has a connection in the case. There is also a pigeon which might get the nomination for best supporting role in the future for driving the audience to edge of the seat experience. The question remains whether the spirit finally gets what it wants.
Despite the shortcomings, Shivalinga is definitely a treat for Shivanna fans and followers of Vasu style of movies and the rest can also enjoy it with a ‘spirit’ed heart.
