ORGANISED CRIMINALS VERSES DISORGANISED POLICE

Rudy Giuliani, the New York governor, once quipped: “It is about time law enforcement got as organized as organized crime”. Indeed, a little bit of order in the rank and file; and, loads of greed and some fear… that is all it takes for organized crime to succeed.

“ಚೂರಿಕಟ್ಟೆ” (‘Choorikatte’) is a 2018 Kannada film about sandalwood smugglers; it garnered critical approval and approbation. Commercially too, the flick had a decent run.

Set in Churikatte, a tiny hamlet in the wilderness of densely forested hills, this crime thriller is about an unlawful sandalwood logging racket run by the local thug, Prakash Shetty (Sharath Lohitashwa), and his trusted henchmen, Seena (Balaji Manohar) and Mohana (Pramod Shetty).

Despite the diligent efforts of Inspector Ravikanth (Achyuth Kumar), the illegal red sanders trade flourishes, courtesy: the nexus between the smugglers and the local forest officer, Suresh (Manjunath Hegde). High on machismo and silvery quick on repartee, Adi (Praveen Tej), an aspiring policeman, takes it upon himself to bust the crime syndicate. Oh…Kala (Prerana Kambam) is his romantic interest.

So, does Adi succeed?

Raghu Shivamogga's direction of this thriller is TOP-SHELF. A grippingly penned script helps him create intense suspense with time jumps, flashbacks and non-linear screenplay. The plot twists lend uncertainty to the narrative; his blend of artistic and technical elements adds nerve-wracking tension.

The groovy start to the film provides an endearing moment in the cinematic experience. But then, Raghu spoils the slickness with some silly song-‘n-dance stuff; he tops it up too with sappy, stupid action sequences. The obsession of movie makers with cinematic content, typical of crass ‘mainstream-potboilers’ and crude ‘template-driven entertainers’, just does not make any sense WHATSOEVER!

Nobin Paul’s musical compositions are passable; so too Vasuki Vaibhav’s sound effects. Advaitha Gurumurthy’s cinematography is SPLENDID. Prakash Karinja’s editing is fine too.

The movie’s ensemble cast has been selected with care and circumspection. The standout performance is that of Balaji Manohar― the stoic, steely and sinister look in his eyes is epic. Praveen Tej is cool as a cucumber. Achyuth Kumar is SUPERB too. Prerana Kambam, Pramod Shetty, Sharath Lohitashwa and others have also fared remarkably.

The movie reminds how cutthroat a criminal gang can be. As summarized succinctly, crime is the price society pays for abandoning character!

I rate this chilling crime thriller: 7.0 on 10!