Officer - Movie Review

Place: Mumbai
Backdrop: Mumbai Police and mafia world
Officers: Shivaji Rao (Nagarjuna) from Hyderabad and Narayana Pasari from Mumbai
Mission: A Mumbai police officer who nabbed all mafia don and made Mumbai city safer faces charges of running parallel mafia world. Bombay court orders a Hyderabad police officer to find the truth. When officer Shivaji Rao takes charge, cop drama thickens.

The basic plot of Ram Gopal Varma’s latest action drama ‘Officer’ sums up the above introduction. The subject of mafia vs police officers has been favorite for the maverick director. Even after exploring many angles in this subject and making numerous movies, he doesn’t seem to be tired of making another one. But he has stopped adding anything new to this theme from long time. On paper, his latest ‘Officer’ seems interesting but on screen, it turns out to be another drab attempt.

The plot has hero and a villain: Shivaji Rao and Pasari. But both the characterizations don’t rouse any interest in us. Shivaji Rao’s acts lack any heroism. Moreover, the villain’s motives are vague. His dialogue is clichéd. The actor who played the role also doesn’t create any impact.

Every scene is formulaic. Mafia don’s joining hands with officers to settle score with the rivals, the killings, the shoot-outs, Nagarjuna losing his wife…. all these seem too stereotype. RGV has added flesh to any characterization. The director who created such memorable villain characters like Bhavani in ‘Shiva’, Biku Matre in ‘Satya’, Guru Narayan in ‘Gaayam’ is now creating dull characters. Which is why his films are lacking the effectiveness. There is hardly any heroism in Nagarjuna’s acts.

The wafer-thin plotline doesn't have much engaging scenes except some moments between Nag and his daughter. The track between Nag and Myra is too weak. What is Myra actually doing in the film is we don’t know. Shayaji Shinde’s role is another wasted role.

Despite two-hours runtime, the movie seems a bit overlong due to unengaging scenes and lack of interesting drama.

Nagarjuna has looked fit for the role but his role and his performance doesn’t impress us much. Baby Kaavya is cute. Ajay comes up with convincing act. Feroz Abbasi fails to create impact.

Among the technical crew, cameraman makes his mark. The film has some interesting camera angles. RGV is known for offering creative framing and camera setups even in bad movies. His trademark 360-degree tracking sequence in Pasari arrest episode is best moment technically.

Ram Gopal Varma continues to experiment with camera angles.

Bottom-line: 'Officer' is another film from the stable of RGV in his pet theme of Mumbai mafia-police. However, it offers nothing new. It has clichéd scenes and dull narration.