Abbara Movie Review: Prajwal Devaraj is the saving grace of this masala flick

The basic theme of Prajwal Devaraj-starrer Abbara is that ‘The good should be good, the bad should be bad.’ The revenge drama traces the story of a young man who has been waiting for 25 years to defeat a villain. He dons three different avatars in this out-and-out masala entertainer by director Ram Narayan, and the film takes us back and forth between the 90s and the present period. In the past, we see Vairamudi (Ravishankar) a land mafia, who kills two people.

Director: Ram Narayan

Cast: Prajwal Devaraj, Nimika Ratnakar, Rajshri Ponnappa, Lekha Chandra, and Ravi Shankar

Coming to the present, Vairamudi is attacked by a masked man (Prajwal Devraj), who is all out to take revenge. One of his roles is the specially-abled Prasad, who is in love with Vaishali (Rajshri Ponnappa). Then, he is Jai for Doctor Priya (Lekha Chandra), and then, he is Shankar, who falls in love with Sonu (Nimika Ratnakar). At one point, the three women realise that they are in love with the same person, Shiva. What’s the motive behind Shiva getting into three different avatars? Why did he fall in love with three different women? Why is he chasing Vairamudi?

Ramnarayan has gone back to the good old days of presenting a masala flick but doesn’t focus on the film’s story and screenplay. The film does make us curious in the initial few scenes, with twists coming at regular intervals, but they don’t really evoke interest.

The story of Abbara is about the tricks the hero plays only to destroy the influential Vairamudi, and this gives ample scope for Prajwal to deliver a massy performance. KGF-fame Ravi Basrur has done a good job with the music.

Unfortunately, in some places, even the serious scenes turn out to be comical. There is every possibility to cut the runtime of the film because a lot of portions meander for too long.

Prajwal Devaraj is the saving grace of Abbara, and so is Ravi Shankar. Despite being a villain, he also gets to shine in comedy and sentiment scenes. While Kote Prabhakar and Arasu Maharaj shine as comedy villains, Shobharaj, Shankar Ashwath, Victory Vasu and Salman have handled their roles smartly. Vijay Chendoor and Govinde Gowda try hard to keep us in splits, but their respective roles don’t add any value to the film.

Overall, Abbara is definitely a watchable film for those who have been missing age-old masala flicks.