Run Antony (Kannada)
Director: Raghu Shastry. V.
Cast: Vinay Rajkumar, Rukhsar Mir, Sushmitha Joshi, Devaraj, Sai Kumar, H.G.Dattatreya
Trailers can be deceptive. As debutant Raghu Shastry’s Run Antony shows, a thrilling opening credits sequence too can mislead you into thinking you’re about to watch a slick thriller.
Run Antony has a creative and glossy countenance and an interesting premise for a thriller. But, in its narration, it meanders, stumbles, fumbles and struggles to keep up. Right in the beginning, we are told that Antony (Vinay Rajkumar) would rather run than confront his fears. He first runs from heart-break and embarrassment and then from life itself when he tries to commit suicide but fails.
Then, while he is on his way to attempt another suicide, a chance encounter with Yashu (Rukhsar Mir) changes everything for him.
It awards him with a purpose, one that he is all too eager to pursue.
Shastry uses one scene to give him a sudden sense of vigour and courage. But this transformation leaves the audience a little perplexed. We are suddenly informed that he is an ex-military officer’s son- a snippet of background information that comes far too late in the film.
In fact, this is the main problem with Run Antony. Shastry makes us feel as if we are not meant to care about the characters. This is more so in the case of Yashu, yet another intriguing character. Unfortunately, she remains an enigma even at the end of the film.
Overall, there is a sense of incompleteness that surrounds the film with its many loose-ends. And this stings when you’re looking to draw up a portrait of the characters in order to understand their actions better. And since Shastry’s core idea is interesting, it frustrates you that he doesn’t care to elaborate.
There are long stylishly shot sequences that seem to be inserted just to showcase Antony running. Sometimes, they hilariously begin with other characters urging him to run- an obvious (and lame) attempt at using the title of the film somehow.
Shastry makes terrorism a backdrop to Antony’s story but robs it of its context, nuance and complexity. He approaches the global phenomenon rather simply, loosely sprinkling references about ISIS and 9/11 without much thought.
What Shastry does well though is time and executing the plot twists. They are successfully thrilling too but on the way to each of those scenes of suspense, Run Antony takes unnecessary diversions into long, dreamy songs that spoil the fun of a thriller.
If the songs had been done away with altogether or even woven into the plot, the film, in its crisper version, would have been far more entertaining. The police procedures and chase sequences in the film demand that the audience make huge leaps of faith for some of them are too baffling for a film that claims to be rooted in the real.
For those in the audience who are sticklers for details, Run Antony can frustrate you, stretching your imagination about how police investigations actually pan out. The ending of the film, especially, evoked laughter from the audience I was watching the film with for its ridiculous conclusion.
Run Antony oscillates between trying to be logical and thrilling and simultaneously trying to accommodate conventional commercial elements. Vinay Rajkumar as Antony is hardly convincing. Rukhsar is a tad bit better.
Devaraj as the investigating officer, Khan is melodramatic.
The cinematography is intriguing and smooth, but it cannot do much to compensate for the lack of thrifty writing and good performances.
While we watch Antony run, Shastry forces us to maintain a safe distance from him.
