Kalki Movie Review: Kalki is a good attempt from the filmmaker to create a smart investigative thriller.

The story is set in Kollapur, Telangana, in 1983. The hairstyles and pop-culture references reflect the early 80s. World Cup Cricket is on and Kalki IPS (Dr. Rajashekar) is tuned into the commentary as he drives into the village that looks like it’s nearing doomsday.

The villagers have other pressing issues than cricket -like safeguarding themselves from the tyrant local MLA Narsappa (Ashutosh Rana, unleashing on-screen fury for the nth time and still making it look believable). 

---

Also Read: ‘Rustum’ Movie Review: Shivrajkumar’s cop film is usual commercial potboiler made only for the fans.

---

Kalki successfully creates an ambiance of thrill which keeps you at edge-of-the-seat and with the investigator as an audience you to try to untie the knot. It has its own shocks and thrills which maintains a balanced pace throughout the movie.

Kalki is not mind-blowingly good cinema, but it is one of those smartly done movies that give you what you want - a few good moments, a few good laughs, and a story. One really wishes that the sidenote love story of Kalki and Padma (Adah Sharma) had been totally avoided, as it doesn't add any value to the movie. One also really wishes that a needless item song had been pruned away too. 

---

Also Read: ‘Rustum’ Movie Review: Shivrajkumar’s cop film is usual commercial potboiler made only for the fans. 

---

By balancing the commercial aspects with the thriller elements, Kalki is a satisfying thriller from Rajasekhar after PSV Garuda Vega and Prasanth Varma after Awe. The BGM by Sharvan Bharadwaj and camera angles by Dasaradhi Shivendra, which initially work get repetitive after a while, boring the audience, especially during the fight sequences.

The investigative thriller which initially intrigues soon gets predictable and routine, with scenes stretching more than needed. Though the climax of the movie doesn’t come as a surprise still it will satisfy.