Jayadev: An outlandish tale

The biggest setback of the tale is its predictability and banal narration
Jayadev: An outlandish tale

Jayant C Paranji returns to direction with Jayadev, loosely inspired by Tamil actioner Sethupathi. It marks the debut of Ghanta Ravi in Tollywood.

The film chronicles the challenges and battle of an upright cop Jayadev against the system and a dreaded local goon, who runs illegal mining. Major part of the film is about Jayadev thrashing the goons for their wrong doings and his efforts to procure evidence behind the brutal killing of a Sub-Inspector. The film is an intense and emotional actioner that hardly has any novelty in its script.

Cast: Ghanta Ravi, Malavika
Director: Jayant C Paranji

Jayadev opens with a song that narrates the contribution of the police department to the society. Ghanta Ravi (Jayadev) is presented as a honest cop, who was deputed as an inspector of Simhadripuram. The film goes on a lighter vein until Jayadev realises that Mastan Raju (Vinod Kumar) is the reason behind the murder of his fellow cop Srihari (Ravi Prakash). 

He confronts Mastan Raju and his henchmen to avenge the death of his colleague. In the process, Jayadev is accused of killing a major witness, eventually loses his job and an inquiry committee is set up against him. He struggles to prove his innocence against all the odds.

The biggest setback of the tale is its predictability and banal narration. Right from the introduction of the protagonist, you will guess what happens next as the film lacks the thrills and the frills. It’s annoying to see a director like Jayanth C Paranji, who is adept at handling a gripping cop saga like Lakshmi Narasimha failing to rightly package the film with adequate emotion and thrill. Had he come up with a neatly-written action drama or faithfully remade the original, the film would have become a perfect launch pad for debutant Ghanta Ravi.

The film does have some delicate moments but by the time these scenes play,  the viewers have already been prepared not to expect anything interesting. Ghanta Ravi was seen in a larger-than-life role in his debut film and he acted with poise. He sports a good physique and can take up serious roles with elan. He looks comfortable in action sequences but he needs to work on his expressions and dance movements. Malavika Raj is just eye candy and essayes a stereotypical role. Like many films these days, she was confined to songs and an unappealing romantic track.

Vinod Kumar makes a comeback with this film but he fails to leave an impact. Posani Krishna Murali, Vennela Kishore and Siva Reddy play their parts well.

Jayadev is a deliberate attempt to show that Ghanta Ravi can flex his muscles, shake a leg to peppy numbers, shed some tears while making sure justice is served. Otherwise, it’s just below-average fare with an outlandish story.

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