Release Date : August 31, 2022
123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5
Starring: Chiyaan Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty, Irfan Pathan, K.S. Ravikumar, Roshan Mathew, Anandraj, Robo Shankar, Mia George, Mirnalini Ravi, Meenakshi Govindrajan and others
Director: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Producer: S.S. Lalit Kumar
Music Directors : A. R. Rahman
Cinematography : Harish Kannan
Editor: Bhuvan Srinivasan
It has been quite a long time since we have seen Vikram on the big screen. He is now back with a film called Cobra that has been dubbed in Telugu. Let’s see how it is.
Story:
Madhie(Vikram) is a mathematical genius who goes undercover and commits high profile assassinations. In comes an interpol agent(Irfan Pathan) to nab him. During the investigation, the cops find out a shocking revelation about this assassin called Cobra. Who is this Cobra? What’s his story? and why is he committing these crimes? To know the answers you need to watch the film on the big screen.
Plus Points:
Vikram has always been doing roles which are quite complex. The same happens here with Cobra as well. He gets a role with dual shades and performs it beautifully. All the hallucination scenes performed by the star hero are top notch.
Srinidhi Shetty gets a good role and does her bit in the first half. Irfan Pathan makes a decent debut and is neat as a cop. Though he does not create much impact to the film, he has done a decent job. Mrunalini Ravi gets a neat role in the flashback and she was good. Roshan Mathews gets a negative role and he is impressive.
The first half of the film was pretty decent and the interval bang is handled quite well. The manner in which a key character is brought into the narrative is thought of well. Yet another major bonus is AR Rahman’s music and BGM which was top notch.
Minus Points:
One of the biggest drawbacks of the film is it is painfully lengthy. The story goes on and on in the second half boring the audience. Also, the story is quite confusing and creates so many doubts in the minds of the audience.
The screenplay lacks basic punch as it is narrated in a complicated manner. A simple storyline is made confusing for no reason. There are many scenes in the second half which defy logic and drag the proceedings.
The conflict point between the key characters is not at all established well by the director. A simple screenplay in the second half would have made matters quite simple for the audience. But that does not happen and the film is sidelined in the last half an hour.
Technical Aspects:
As said earlier, AR Rahman is one of the biggest assets as his songs and BGM elevate the proceedings. The Telugu dubbing is decent and so were the dialogues. The production design is slick and so was the camera work. Editing is bad as close to twenty minutes should have been chopped off.
Coming to the director Ajay Gynanamuthu, he has done a dull job with the film. His story is simple but to make it engaging for the audience, he creates a complex screenplay which confuses things even more. By the end of the film, the common audience will surely have multiple doubts about the plot and their back stories. Ajay designs Vikram’s role well but the rest of his narration is haphazard and lengthy.
Verdict:
On the whole, Cobra is a half baked action drama that starts well and goes down in the second half. Vikram’s performance is top notch and AR Rahman’s music is an asset. In a way, what could have been an interesting thriller is spoiled by a confusing narration making this film a dull and lengthy watch this weekend.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team