Zebra movie review: A bloated heist-thriller

Around the 30-minute mark in Zebra, the film’s protagonist ponders about landing up in trouble purely because of the butterfly effect theory. The early portions of the film, too, are full of promise, talking about how the human tendency to break the written law and find loopholes in a rigorous system is often the root cause of all chaos.  Zebra is ambitious not just in terms of its concept, but also how it attempts to bind multiple threads and characters into one topsy-turvy coherent universe that revolves around money and the many ways to make it spin. However, co-writer and director Eeshvar Karthic struggles to effectively build on the premise that drives entirely on chaos. 

Despite the story moving at a brisk pace, the chain of events that lead Surya (Satyadev) into the rabbithole of crimes and corruption seem overdrawn. It doesn’t help that the film spends a lot of time on one of Surya’s side-quests that, although crucial in the larger picture, doesn’t keep us gripped on its own. To be fair, the concept of banking frauds is established in a fairly simplistic manner, without making the proceedings too jargon heavy. However, in its attempt to keep this new world simple, Eashvar Karthic forgets to keep interesting. By the time the film hits the interval mark, you realise there are two many characters and developments to follow, and that most of your attention is spent on merely following the events, instead of being thoroughly immersed in them. 

Director: Eashvar Karthic

Cast: Satyadev, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Daali Dhananjaya, Satya, Jennifer Piccinato, Sathyaraj

A big drawback of Zebra, is that Surya’s arc and journey is familiar, and devoid of any saucy turns or surprises. The audience, then, finds themselves merely following Satya’s actions instead of actively rooting for him. (To his credit, Satyadev performs with a lot of earnestness, staying steady even when the film struggle to hold its ground).

The director establishes Surya’s mother in a stylish demeanor — she is someone who enjoys sweet dishes as much as Jackie Chan movies — only to fail in capitalising on these quirky details. Something similar can be said about Swathi (Priya Bhavani Shankar) who is introduced as a spunky woman with her own entrepreneurial plans. However, none of these come into play later, and Swathi is reduced to being, more or less, a typical love interest figure who is a mere helping help in the hero's quest.

The second half of Zebra offers plenty of fun in comparison, courtesy the interpersonal dynamics between the three lead characters - Surya, Swathi and Bob (Satya). Their moments, brimming with chaos and confusion as they attempt to conduct a well-planned heist, have great energy and humour. However, this rush of energy comes in a little too late in the film.

Even then, the overall narrative choices in Zebra seem all over the place, making the film very bloated. After focusing primarily on Surya’s life in the first half, the second half begins with an elaborate backstory for Aadhi (Daali Dhananjaya), executed with a bewildering mood-shift. The moments between Aadhi and his wife, while intended to establish the strength of their relationship, come across as odd. Though he gets a few cool hero-elevation visuals during the introduction, Aadhi eventually is not a character fascinating enough, and Daali Dhananjaya fails to leave an impact. 

Everytime you want to give the film benefit of the doubt and try to be patient with its moves, an odd choice appears, like the scene with Buddy and Sheela (Jennifer Piccinato), which is discomforting in its use of double entendre dialogues and sticks out like a sore thumb. This lack of control on its many moods is what further hampers the film. Ravi Basrur’s background music, too, is surprisingly generic for large portions.

Amidst all the incoherence, actors like Sunil and Sathayraj find a few moments where they are clearly having a lot of fun with the one-liners and the quirky-yet-suave build-up of their characters. Sathyaraj, in particular, playing a hawala money organiser, is a hoot and a half, while Satya offers plenty of laughs.

And yet, all these stand-alone moments of great comic timing and wacky proceedings fail to salvage the film. At a runtime of 164 minutes, Zebra just feels excruciatingly long and worn out.