Review of Ghost

Ghost (IV) (2023)
7/10
A super fast paced thriller of its kind
28 October 2023
Director MG Srinivas has had a collection of some interesting films in his belt. Although not perfect, his films have shown some promise and always offered something new. He kept the audience guessing from the time of announcement and through the promotions of the movie. The Big Daddy promo and the trailer showed two different shades of the film. Dr Shivarajkumar aka Shivanna hasn't had a great run himself after his successful experimental 'Tagaru' with Sur. With him gaining popularity among the whole South Indian film industry after his cracking appearance in Jailer, the expectations around this have been high.

Ghost seems like a heist thriller from the overall setup in the movie. But as the movie goes on, one can realize it is much more complex than that. The movie however does run very fast and needs complete attention to understand what is happening. The length of the movie is kind of both the positive and negative point for the movie. At times it almost feels like this script could have made a great mini-series on an OTT platform. There is a lot of stuff happening in the movie to comprehend at times and it is told mainly through the interaction of two main characters. While the first half is all about set-up, plan and the tricks by Shivanna and his gang it is during the second half we get to see some scope towards the role build of Shivanna. The movie's action sequences are focused more to be seen as clever moves than the grand. There are certain hype moments for Shivanna fans and some special easter eggs for the ones who would have keenly followed Shivanna's career. Arjun Janya's background score is apt to keep the movie's adrenaline going but slightly misses an USP element to it. Cinematography is excellent at times and at times it is too fast. While I understand the director's intention of non-linear screenplay the editing could have been much better. I also feel that there were much better opportunities to elevate Shivanna's character had the movie been slowed down a little. Looks like both the releases of the week Leo and Ghost ended up needing better elevation moments to their main characters at certain points.

Ghost is definitely a unique experiment for an actor of Shivanna's calibre. He runs the show from the beginning and peaks in the second half especially with the different shades that come along the character. While Jayaram plays the template role of 'chasing cop', his role seems a bit too tiring. The other characters in the movie doesn't really light up the screen any further. It is good to see both Anupam Kher and Jayaram having dubbed for their own roles in Kannada.

Ghost is definitely a stand out movie for the Kannada film industry which will be talked about more in the future. It is definitely a landmark in both Shivanna and Srini's careers in its own way. It is understandable if someone doesn't end up liking this movie in a theatre watch but this definitely needs a patient viewing with pause and analysis on OTT.
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