Napolean: Lost in shadow

The film, which tells the story of a man who has all kinds of quirks, starts out strong but loses the plot in the second half
Napolean: Lost in shadow

Napoleon (Anand Ravi) walks into a police station claiming he's lost his shadow. He becomes the talk of the town owing to his eccentric behaviour. The film dwells on a murder case which was closed by the cops presuming an accident. Napoleon is a mentally exhausted man for whom God appears in his dreams and helps him solve crimes, though the veracity of this is left up to the viewers. Meanwhile, Sravanthi (Komali) approaches the cops and lodges a man-missing complaint only to realise that Napoleon is her husband Ashok, who has forgotten his identity.  
 

Cast: Anand Ravi, Komali, Ravi Varma
Director: Anand Ravi

Anand Ravi had earlier come up with a groundbreaking concept revolving around the kidnap of the Chief Minister to bring to the fore issues like corruption and black money, in his maiden film (as a writer) Pratinidhi. This time, too, he lives up to that reputation as an actor, director and a writer, and has churned out an emotional film that tugs at your heartstrings. He, once again, picks a socially relevant subject, and deals with it with sentiment and humanity.

The first hour makes for an interesting watch with some interesting banter between Anand Ravi and Ravi Varma. While some potential is visible in the second hour, towards the end, the narration gets messed up with a far-fetched climax. Debutant Anand Ravi does his job quite well, but isn’t able to connect all the dots to make Napoleon an engaging fare. His Napoleon is a perfect blend of confusion, anger and a man seething with a vengeance. He does justice to his part.

Komali does a convincing job, and Ravi Varma gets a substantial role and fits the bill as a cop perfectly. He gets enough footage and he shows his potential. Bhanu, too, passes the muster.

Siddharth Sadasivuni’s music is good, and Kailash Kher’s song Pranama... makes you teary-eyed. Margal David’s cinematography is alright, but Karthik Srinivas’s editing could have been crisper.

Rather than going for some paranormal activity, one wishes the missing shadow point had been explored more. Once the identity of Napoleon is revealed, the suspense fizzles out.

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