The first 25 minutes of Kannada film Kempa raises a lot of expectations. Unfortunately, the rest of the film -- except the 20 minutes -- follows the usual trend of the underworld masala films. 

Director Jagadish's Kempa cannot be considered as a good effort because the focus is entirely on the way the protagonist becomes a gangster and how he kills a powerful don.

But the film does has some fresh elements like the scenes on the Special Task Force (STF) excesses, which is so far written and discussed only in the media, and not touched by the Kannada film industry. Jagadish does best in these sequences.

The film revolves around Kempa, who is born and brought up in the village of forest brigand Veerappan. His sister becomes a victim of the STF excesses and Kempa's attempts to get justice fails. So he kills the rapists and moves to Bangalore, where he becomes a gangster. Kempa is deeply loved by Bindhu, the daughter of a prostitute. He oscillates between his compulsions of continuing as a gangster and being fair to his lover, when an unexpected twist occurs.

Santhosh needs to improve his performance and dialogue delivery. Newcomer Tanushika shows promise and is impressive in the climax. Avinash, Prajna and Pradeep Rawat have done a good job.

Two of Guru Kiran's songs add pep to the film.

Kempa should be watched for the first and the last 20 minutes.

Rediff Rating: