Custody Movie Review: Utterly avoidable failure film

Movie: Custody

Starring: Naga Chaitanya (in his Tamil debut), Arvind Swamy, R. Sarathkumar, Krithi Shetty, Priyamani, Sampath Raj

UnfoldedNow.Com Rating: 2/5

Genre: Action

Release date: 12 May 2023

Director: Venkat Prabhu

Music director: Ilaiyaraaja, Yuvan Shankar Raja

Cinematography: S R. Kathir

Producer: Srinivasaa Chitturi

The Plot Of The Movie

An honest police officer named Shiva (Naga Chaitanya) is in a relationship with Revathi (Krithi Shetty). The movie depicts Shiva’s life in a hamlet close to Rajahmundry in the early 1990s. Gangster Raju (Arvind Swami) had to appear in court after being arrested for the crimes that he had committed. While all is going on, Raju is being threatened by another gang, but Cop Shiva is defending him. Revathi, who eloped from her prearranged marriage to Vennela Kishore, joins this group.

Custody Movie Review

Maanadu Venkat Prabhu and Mankatha lead the guardianship. The director is known for simple but compelling stories full of neat twists and tight scripts. A guardian legacy involving police and criminal seems right for him. The team addressed the problem with the beginning of Custody in pre-release announcements, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s still boring and mundane.

A large part of the first half is dedicated to the love story of the main couple Naga Chaitanya and Kriti Shetty. Usually, a love story is overlooked by the overall narrative of a thriller, but here the director had a chance to make an impact. Guardianship is set in the early 90s, which gives enough meat to bring the nostalgia factor to the game with this thread. Unfortunately, this is not the case because the touches surface like the cricket reference T or similar small touches. It’s fine to keep things subtle, but they don’t register and come across as missed opportunities.

The crux of the story begins around the hour with the arrival of Aravind Swamy’s character. The second half has one song with the police, the criminal, and the support. A whole side that marches so finely requires exceptional, engaging content and scripting. This does not happen in the detention center. To compensate for the lack of content, the director creates long blocks of action.

The ending with a little twist is too little too late, and the core of the plot is also completely predictable. With the characters and premise of a maintenance film, a film should be either a hard-hitting police story or a gripping action thriller with a tight script. Neither applies to custody. Mainly, it is full of action blocks extended along expected lines. Overall, Custody Maanadu director Venkat Prabhu is very disappointed.

The plot and twists are flat and predictable, resulting in a boring and tiring story. Maintenance is also an endurance trip for those who like different tours. Along with Naga Chaitanya, Aravind Swamy plays an important role in the film. He is fully introduced and that is the end of things. However, like others, he fell short of the mark. It is shocking to see an actor like Aravind Swamy go through the entire story without a single respectable scene or block. Priyamani plays an important role which is central to the main story. But he only appears in a couple of scenes in the entire movie. Goparaju Ramana and other minor supporting roles are good.

Songs add boredom and act as speed breakers in the story. The background score impresses at times but generally lacks a unique quality usually associated with the combination of Yuvan and Venkat Prabhu. The 90s could have been explored better visually, but considering the action story, it’s okay. Venkat Raaje’s editing is good. However, the story could have been more intense due to the action-thriller content. Action blocks are expected on lines that should have been enhanced by good choreography. It does not take place in the detention center and is long. The writing is not effective and the lack of concentration is noticeable.

Custody, about which Naga Chaitanya was so confident since the beginning, is subpar and falls short. It is an antiquated movie that is completely skippable that has nothing to offer.

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