Murder mystery

Lockup

– Review

‘Lockup’, directed by S G Charles with Eswari Rao, Venkat Prabhu, Vaibhav, Mime Gopi and Vani Bhojan in key roles, is a gripping thriller. Non-linear narration with twists at regular intervals make it an interesting watch

The film, which runs for just 106 minutes, doesn’t waste time to take off. A police officer named Sampath (Mime Gopi) is murdered in his posh bungalow and the investigation is handed over to Inspector Ilavarasi (Eswari Rao).

Before that, Sub-Inspector Moorthy (Venkat Prabhu) arrests a local goon for Sampath’s murder. As Ilavarasi takes up the investigation, she finds loopholes the case. For example, the knife which was used for the murder is different from the knife which was spotted at the scene.

Also, Vasanth (Vaibhav), a subordinate to Murthy, who was assigned the suicide case of a house maid, finds that her death is related to the murdered cop. In the meantime, the arrested goon dies and the case gets complex.

The remaining part of the movie is about who is the real culprit, who is helping them out, what is the reason behind Sampath’s murder and whether Ilavarasi is able to catch the murderers.

Eswari Rao gets a solid role after ‘Kaala’ and delivers goods, especially in the first half of the movie. Venkat Prabhu and Vaibhav play characters with negative shades and do complete justice to their respective roles.

Poorna and Vani Bhojan are also there in the movie, that proceeds at a brisk pace. The technical team, that includes cinematography by Santhanam Sekhar, editing by Anand Geraldin and music by Arrol Correli, have helped the director well. On the whole, ‘Lockup’ is an engaging film despite a few flaws.

Rating: 3 out of 5

By Naveen

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