Gowli movie review: Srinagar Kitty's comeback film is intriguing

His tranquil life, which also includes a loving wife and their young daughter, is in a sudden disarray as a result and with violence and mortal danger looming larger than ever. Now forced to shed his subdued demeanor and wield the axe in retaliation, Gowli takes it upon himself to save his loved ones and conquer the evil that surrounds him. Can he overcome the hurdles and avenge what he has lost?

Review: Gowli, aside from everything else, is a film truly fascinated with evil. As much as it is the story of the good ultimately triumphing, writer-director Soora spends a majority of the runtime in exploiting the stomach-churning evil that his world brims with.

Soora as a debutant director believes that in order to help the good prevail ultimately, the corrupt forces have to be highlighted first. In essence, the film, is a coming-of-age story of it leading man Gowli who must face the gravest threat of his life so as to break the shackles and unleash the true rage within him. Gowli must rise from being a meek man to someone who single-handedly restores peace both in his village and his own small family.

However, in an attempt to raise the stakes and paint a picture of agony & cruelty, Soora's film becomes too testosterone-heavy and monotonous. One of the main problems of the film is his keenness to make his villains too wicked and evilish. Granted that the film's subject matter (based on a true incident, apparently) demands a kind of an intensified approach but that doesn't mean that the antagonists can't boast a human trait or two, no matter how diabolical they are at heart. There are too much wicked laughs and too much posturing from the villains and also too much bass in Shashank Sheshagiri's background score.

Sharath Lohithashwa, one of the main villains, is quite impactful as a morally-deviant police officer.Yash Shetty, the second most important villain of Gowli, is unimpressive and is mostly spotted mouthing, or almost growling, dull lines in Hindi. The film uses him as the leader of a pack of dacoits that unleashes mayhem on Gowli's village but these portions does not add any value to the story.

Some of the best scenes of the film include the very reliable Rangayana Raghu who, as Gowli's uncle, imbues the film with a sense of maturity. Ably supported by Srinagar Kitty and the rest of the cast, the senior actor ends up being the best performer of the lot. Pavana Gowda, who plays Gowli's Girija, too, is a breath of fresh air and carries the complexities of her character with effortless grace. However, her role never becomes a part of the plot due to flws in the script.

Srinagar Kitty, the star of the film, makes an effective comeback and it is apparent all along that he was heavily invested in the project. While the first half of the film presents a more subdued version of his character, the second half escalates things to extreme heights and it is here that we encounter the raging beast in him. The entire narrative is hooked to this transition and the emotional shift tcould have been more effective.

Gowli is an intriguing film. However the action sequences are exciting but seem relentless after a point. And with the emotions too coming off as overbearing, it is likely that the viewer will feel a little bored.