Arjun Gowda movie review: Ramu's last as producer is, sadly, quite the disappointment

1.5/5

Story: Arjun Gowda (Prajwal Devaraj) shoots his own mother, who runs a private television news channel. He is hired by a supari killer to do so. Once a happy-go-lucky guy turns into a hard-core criminal. But why?

Review: Arjun Gowda kick starts with a brief history on illegal country-made guns, from being used to assassinate the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, etc., the narrative meanders some more before returning to present day. The only connection to such a gun in the movie is when Arjun Gowda gets one to for a hit, which, eventually, turns out to be on his mother.

Thereafter, the story runs in reverse mode, giving the audience a hint of who and what Arjun really was. Back then, Arjun’s life revolved around his mother Janaki, and his loved one, Jhanhavi, life. How did this turn around to get a son pull a gun on his mother?

On paper, the premise of Arjun Gowda sounds interesting, it is in the execution that the makers falter and they do so big time. In fact, they did not even invest on a decent dialogue writer and, hence, we hear supposed punch lines that go, "I like guns, but not breaking news, '' and "I drink not because of weakness, but for its freshness". You get the drift, right?

In the name of cinematic liberties, the makers have churned out a movie that is so far flung from reality that there is absolutely nothing relatable in it. In an attempt to include as many commercial elements as possible with a heroic touch to it, the director falters at every level. It is only Prajwal Devaraj with his on-screen experience, who tries his best to lift the badly-written script to some extent. But there’s only so much that he can single-handedly do.

Verdict: If you are not a fan of the Dynamic Prince, we highly recommend you skip this one for good.