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Venkata in Sankata, directed by actor Ramesh Arvind, invests in a mad
caper story. When it opens, Ramesh is a courageous policeman cracking
difficult cases, but losing all credit to his goofy colleague Laddu
(Devdas Kapikad). He finds success and love as the story hurtles
towards a suitably chaotic climax.
Like in all capers, you have criminals out to wreak havoc on the lead
characters, and in this case, on Bangalore as well. With terror being
the flavour of the season, the bad guys want the release of their
mastermind Iqbal (played by script writer Rajendra Karanth). Iqbal's
Kannada is a parody, like the hotch-potch Kannada attributed to old
Mysore jutka drivers; such stereotypes put the film in the league of
the verbose, over-the-top drama of Master Hirannaiah.
Add to this a Ferrari-driving babe (Sharmila Mandre) who falls in love
with Ramesh, her freaky palmist-dad (Madhu Totapalli) who makes a
fortune from handing out 'lucky' stones, a bald grandma (Umesh) who
loves eating and dreaming about her dead husband, and you have set the
tone for heavy-duty comic action. After the interval, the action moves
to a college with more zany characters, including a forgetful
professor (Kashi) who complicates life for everyone he meets.
The film gains from appropriately loud and silly acting by everyone,
including Mukhyamantri Chandru and Umasri, who play senior cops. The
largely witty dialogue begins to make its impact as the madness builds
up. The slick stunts and title graphics elevate the film from the
budget mundaneness of TV sitcoms, and the college kids (led by Anusha,
Meghana) add energy to the proceedings.
Overall, the film will be seen as middle-brow timepass. With a sudden
intrusion of the patriotic rhetoric towards the end, Venkata in
Sankata becomes, like Mani Ratnam's Roja, a champion of statist
sentiment. Finally, one regret could be that Ramesh is contented with
pointless slapstick when he could, with some effort, have turned his
comedy into a satire that speaks bigger truths. He is happy being
Master Hirannaiah when he could be aspiring to be Chaplin.
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