If you are a local director, you copy from other Indian languages. If you are a sophisticated director who dreams of Bollywood, you copy from Hollywood. Simple theory, isn't it. JD Chekravarthy is a sophisticated director who dreams of Bollywood and so he copied the Hollywood hit, Departed. But he did not have guts to stay true to the original and adds heavy doses of sentiment, romance and a happy ending to the original.

What is it about: Malli (Jagapathi Babu) is an undercover cop who works for Daddy (Mahesh Manjrekar). His true identity is only known to police commissioner Viswanath (Pradeep Rawat). Chandu (JD Chekravarthy) is a cop who is placed in the police department by Daddy to get information regularly. Viswanath and Daddy both come to know that there is a spy in their teams. Chandu is entrusted with the responsibility of finding out the cop in the police department and Malli is given the duty of finding the mole in the gang by Daddy. The game of cat and mouse begins...Who will find out the mole earlier? Will Malli ever get his identity back and live as a respectable police officer? The answers to these questions lie in this violent and gory tale.

What is Good: All the scenes directly picked up from the original. JD manages to keep the punch alive in those scenes. Some of the scenes are gripping and will hold your attention. Jagapathi Babu shines in the emotional scenes. JD also acts well. Pradeep Rawat as a good man is a welcome change. The film will not bore you to death and it has a short running time of around 2hrs 20 min. Varma's stamp is evident in several scenes. Mamatha Mohandas and newcomer Madhurima are adequate. Sakshi Sivanand sizzles in an item song and the vamp from Pokiri bares it all in another item song. The front benchers will love these. Mahesh Manjrekar is ok.

What is bad: The amount of violence and gore, the item songs, JD's underwear comedy and mid road romance - all these will deter the family audiences. I could see the female audience in the team flinch during some of the particularly violent scenes. The half baked attempts at comedy are pathetic. The second half is complicated and the screenplay is tough to follow. The masses who will expect to see the hot song between Jagapathi Babu and Mamatha Mohandas will be disappointed as it has been deleted from the final cut. The identity issue of Jagapathi Babu crops up suddenly and there is no explanation provided.

Me Thinks: Might do decently in big city multiplexes. The Varma school of audience might like it. JD tries to shock the audience, wants to make a different film but chickens out in the climax by giving the film a happy ending. Average flick at the most. And quarter point cut from the rating for the amount of blood and gore in the film.

Tailpiece: JD takes the opportunity to plant a couple smooches on the new girl Madhurima. His ideas are far ahead of the audience's tastes and needs to tone down if he wants to make a successful film in Tollywood.