The first thought that comes to mind after watching Dinakar Toogudeepa's second directorial venture, Navagraha is that it is quite different from his first film. Dinakar has transformed himself from a director of soft romantic films to a director of suspense thrillers with this latest Kannada flick.
He has shown that the emphasis should be more on the concept, and in that aspect, Navagraha stands above all the run of the mill films that are being released these days. That said, Navagraha does suffer from a very bad script and weak narration. The dialogues by Chinthan, however are catchy.
In Navagraha, Dinakar has assembled seven sons of the leading villains of the Kannada film industry including his elder brother Darshan and made a thriller. Darshan and Dinakar are the sons of Kannada film industry's one time villain Toogudeepa.
Jaggu is a petty criminal who indulges in dacoity and thefts. A big time don asks him to steal the Howdah used for the Dussera procession in Mysore. Jaggu gets the support of his sister and her lover. Four more join the gang. Jaggu takes the support of his lover also. These nine people execute a finely designed plan to steal the Howdah.
Meanwhile the chief security officer comes to know of the theft and starts investigating. What happens to the criminal conspiracy hatched by the nine young criminals forms the rest of the film.
Navagraha has its strong points. Harikrishna's two songs are sure to enthrall the audience. The fight sequence in the climax and the build up to it is sure to keep you on the edge of the seat. But the finer points are diluted by the lengthy and yawning first half.
Dinakar should have worked on the thrilling aspects than on the trivial things like the introduction of each character and reasons behind their involvement in the crime.
Kudos to Darshan for accepting a role that has negative shades to it though he is a popular hero. It is appreciable that he has let the other not so well known heroes to take the limelight. Darshan, no doubt is lively. Among the others, it is Dharma who is excellent in his performance. Vinod Prabhakar and Srujan Lokesh have also excelled. Sharmila Mandre impresses in her brief role. Krishna Kumar's camera work is good. Watch it once.
Rediff Rating: 
