Dayal Padmanabhan's Kannada movie, Circus is a good effort as a thriller. It is certainly a novel script for Ganesh who had so far worked only in romantic films as a dejected lover. This time Dayal has made sure to show him in a different light.
Circus has rich production values as well as a logical screenplay. And the way the director builds up the hero and the heroine is also credible and intelligent. Many sequences in the film are thrilling especially the scenes relating to the tracing of the mystery letter which is well handled. There are a lot of such engaging moments in the film that offset the minute negative factors.
One of them is Dayal's attempt to package the film with too many elements to please the audience, which is a slight damper. A good thriller should have a tight script but Dayal, in his eagerness to attract Ganesh's ardent young fans, has included a love element in the story. This has certainly not helped the film; in fact it drags in the beginning and also in the second half.
Another minus point of the film is Emil's music which is ordinary.
Dhanush and his four friends are fun loving pranksters who stay in a Railway Colony. Dhanush meets his childhood friend, Priya who still loves him. One of Dhanush's friends plays his usual pranks which lead him to write a bogus threatening letter to the Railway Station Master in Bangalore. In a bit of confusion, one of the five youngsters writes the name and address of Dhanush on the cover and posts it. And then the search starts to trace the letter. Unfortunately for the youngsters, a group of terrorists have designed a plan to do the same thing.
Dayal shows competence in using his artists and technicians to their best. Ganesh has excelled in his role. He has put in a lot of effort in the stunts. He also shows his class as an actor.
Newcomer Archana Gupta looks cute on screen, but she is found wanting in the acting department. Mithra, Avinash Bharadwaj, Murali have done well. Sadhu Kokila has done similar type of roles in many films. The gang of baddies also have done a good job.
Shekhar Chandru's camera work is top class. The background music, DTS and graphics work are very good.
Circus may not be a top class thriller but still has enough entertaining arsenal to please film fans. Watch it if you love thrillers.
Rediff Rating: