You need guts to make a cop story. And there is no middle path when you choose to make one. If you are making a cop story, make an all out message movie. Salute tries hard to walk the thin line between a commercial film and a message oriented movie and ends up being neither. It is disappointing to see the efforts of young Vishal go waste in a movie that meanders along aimlessly.

What is it about:Satyam (Vishal) is an honest and upright cop who does not believe in encounters. He believes that the law is above everything and criminals should only be punished by the law. There is the usual set of suspects, a minister Kondal Rao (Kota Srinivasa Rao), his goons, Acharya (Prabhu Nepaul) and Dilli (Ravi Kale). They plan to eliminate some other ministers so that Kondal Rao can become the Chief Minister. How Vishal thwarts their plans and exposes their evil side to the people of the state forms the crux of the story.

What is Good: Vishal’s efforts show in the movie. The actor got a crew cut, shaved his head, built a six pack body and did everything he could to ensure that his film does well. Producer Vikram Krishna did not spare any expense for the movie and the lavishness shows. The songs are well shot but totally unnecessary. Nayantara looks gorgeous. Upendra burns up the screen with his screen presence but is given exactly three scenes to perform. The climax is ok but it is a case of too little too late.

What is bad:The first 40 minutes where the director crams in 2 fights and three songs and some silly and unnecessary comedy. The first half runs for close to 95 minutes and the second half for another 95 making the movie more than 3 hours long. The editing needed to be much tighter. Each fight lasts atleast 10-15 minutes and has more than 40-50 goons pouring out of the frame, it almost seems like the director forgot to say cut and the fight went on and on. The songs are well shot, but act as complete speedbreakers to the plot. Just when you think that the movie is picking up pace, a song comes up and interest levels plummet. Vishal should have ideally worked on making a good cop movie without the unnecessary commercial elements. The screenplay of the movie is not at all taut like it needs to be for a thriller.

Me Thinks: Vishal needed a much better director to handle the flick. He also needed a bigger heart so he could allow Upendra a slightly longer role which would have helped. The film is overtly long and fails to hold the interest of the audience. Poor fare at the box office. The much hyped Independence Day clash seems to have fizzled out!

Tailpiece: Vishal’s straight Telugu movie talk is all humbug. Charminar is shown in Chaderghat and the movie then cuts straight to an overbridge in Chennai. Tamil signs are visible all over. Scenes involving Nayantara have no lip sync and it seems like she is speaking Tamil. He better stick to Tamil movies which will anyway be dubbed.