Nata Bhayankara review: Olle Huduga Pratham's film feels like an assault that you volunteered for

1.5/5

Story:

Pratham a.k.a Puttu is a superstar actor blessed with a Midas touch whose every single film to date has been a thumping success. This allows him to throw his weight about and be a diva on film sets, much to the annoyance and frustration of the directors and producers he is working with. Turns out the luck he carries is because of his zodiac sign and the same alignment of stars lures to an isolated bungalow where a vengeful ghost resides in search of the man who wronged her. Can the superstar, who is now caught in this drama along with his film crew, help the ghost meet her deserving end?

Review:

Pratham, the certified Olle Huduga of Sandalwood, has spoken repeatedly of the support that he has received from superstars Dhruva Sarja & Upendra in the making of his directorial debut Nata Bhayankara. The Action Prince launched the trailer of the film and even congratulated Pratham's efforts in putting the film together while Real Star Upendra lent his voice to the title track.

However, after watching Nata Bhayankara, one wonders if the two stars were extending support to the Bigg Boss winner or actually pulling a prank on him, considering that there is absolutely nothing in the film that's worth their backing. The film, right from the word go, works only as an instrument to test your patience and levels of tolerance while you encounter a most relentless barrage of silliness. The show that I caught had a handful of audience members who, just as I felt, seemed like they couldn't wait to exit the nearly-vacant cinema hall.

Pratham, who also stars in the film aside from writing and directing it, fails not only in putting a cohesive story together but also in executing it as a director. Much of the first half is spent in the most inane gags about his antics as a superstar and how, at any given chance, he uses his stature to outrageously cancel film shoots. These "comedy" bits also include veteran director Om Prakash Rao, Kuri Pratap and others and despite their salvaging efforts, Nata Bhayankara remains devoid of any wit or humour. 

Pratham also tries to flip the switch and brings elements of horror into the story, and even uses a backstory to tell us how the vengeful spirit came to be in that bungalow. But nothing adds up till the very end and Pratham, instead of doing something about the story at hand, uses the opportunity to surround himself with a couple of skinny models and amp up the cringe levels. Unfortunately, he doesn't boast an enterprising personality nor the acting chops to pull this off and you are left completely baffled about what's unfolding in front of you. And when the film does try to be 'Bhayankara', the horror sequences, too, surrender in shame because of the lack of any purpose attached to them.

Veteran actor Sai Kumar plays a special role in the film as Agni MBBS and this supposed comical twist to his Agni IPS image bears no impact whatsoever on the narrative. Shobaraj, Neharikha Shenoy, Sushmitha Joshi, and Anupama Hegde, too, star in the film but none of them has a role worth writing home about. 

Verdict:

Nata Bhayankara, should you choose to watch it, could well be the reason behind your sudden decision to avoid cinema halls for a while. As already pointed out, the film is a snooze fest that deserves to be left unattended, unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. With Kranti first managing to bring down the standards to a certain extent and Nata Bhayankara causing further damage right after, Kannada cinema isn't off to the start that it hoped for in 2023. Time to immediately put this behind us and move on!