Custody Review: Strictly for action movie lovers
The custody story is interesting in the beginning and thrilling till the interval block.
Hyderabad: Custody is Naga Chaitanya’s first bilingual film, in Telugu and Tamil, under the direction of Venkat Prabhu. Naga Chaitanya played a police constable in Custody. Krithi Shetty is the female lead. Arvind Swamy, Sarathkumar, and Priyamani played important roles. Today, Custody is released in theatres.
Custody is about the story of a police constable Shiva who is very sincere and honest at his work. Shiva comes across a most-wanted and accused criminal, Rajoo, who is the key between the state government and CBI at the central. How Shiva puts all his efforts by facing many hurdles to submit Rajoo before the judiciary is the rest of the story for Custody.
Also Read
The custody story is interesting in the beginning and thrilling till the interval block. But it becomes a predictable one in the second half. Venkat Prabhu might have chosen a few more twists and turns. But what is appreciable of Venkat Prabhu is his strictness to the heroics and honesty of a cop.
Naga Chaitanya is phenomenal as Shiva. He perfectly suits the role and is best in the action episodes of the film. His looks are also good.
Krithi Shetty gets one of the best roles in her career. She shares most of the screen time along with Naga Chaitanya and also becomes a key in the proceedings of the story.
Arvind Swamy as Rajoo has both a touch of action and comedy. One would expect much intensity in the characterisation of Rajoo but Venkat Prabhu limits this exploration.
Sarathkumar as IG Nataraj is brilliant in the action parts. His fight scenes with Naga Chaitanya look great.
Priyamani gets a very important role though she doesn’t have much screen time. She plays Dakshayani, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.
The cameos of Jiva and Ramki are special.
Speaking about the technical values of Custody, the action episodes are prominent. 5 major action sequences in the film (police station fight, road chase, dam tunnel fight, forest fight, and train fight) form the core of Custody. Credits go to the action directors Stun Shiva and Mahesh Mathew.
Kathir’s cinematography is exceptional in the action scenes. Production design from Rajeevan is also top stuff. Venkat Raajen’s editing disappoints for sure. Many unnecessary scenes in the second half can be strictly trimmed.
The duo of Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja have good background scores together. The songs are not so great but are beautifully picturised.
So, Custody is top-notch in action but looks regular and predictable by the story. The appreciable aspect is Custody being an honest cop’s story. So if you are a fan of action films, Custody is for you.
– Kiran
