191. Gurudev Hoysala; movie review

 

GURUDEV HOYSALA

Cert 15

130 mins

BBFC advice: Contains  strong violence, injury detail

Can the legal system in India really be as broken as is portrayed in movies and is the caste system quite as dominant as reflected in Gurudev Hoysala?

Vijay Naagendra's movie is a no-holds-barred attack on both, through the eyes of a fearless cop, portrayed by  Dhananjaya.

He is the title character transferred to a small town where an officer has disappeared during an undercover operation.

His investigation leads to a family who has ruled the area through violence to preserve caste differences.

BS Avinash plays the head of the house as uncompromising in his belief that his clan's power should be supported at all costs.

He is backed up by his son (Prathap Narayanan) and his devoted and ferocious best friend (Naveen Shankar).

Their nemesis turns out to be a young man from a lower caste (Anirudh Bhat) who has eloped with the crime lord's daughter (Mayuri Nataraj).

The hero cop is left to be a referee to an increasingly angry dispute that begins to have ramifications for the wider community.

But nothing is quite as black and white as it initially seems.

Gurudev Hoysala is compelling because his hero is flawed - his obsession with chasing villains is at the expense of his wife (Amrutha Iyengar), any friendships and occasionally his own moral code.

His red mist can also prompt him to make bad decisions or leap to incorrect conclusions.

But behind it all, he is still the man who is going to keep people as safe as possible in a society split by corruption and caste.

And, of course, he can fight. Fifteen thugs at a time are mere trifle for this fella.

Essentially, Gurudev Hoysala is a tribute to the bravery of India's policemen and women but there are some hard-hitting tangents too.

Its problem is there are too many stereotypes and it goes over the same ground repeatedly. That is why I haven't marked it higher.

Reasons to watch: Hard-hitting thriller

Reasons to avoid: Too many stereotypes

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know?  The Hindu belief in reincarnation is key to the caste system. Hindus believe when a person dies, he or she is reincarnated as another being, hopefully in a higher caste. The only way to move to a higher caste in the next life is to strictly obey the rules of one's current caste.

The final word. Vijay N. "Gurudev Hoysala is not just about a hero chasing the villains, there is more to this cop drama. We are talking about their mindsets, their opinions, their thinking, etc." Cinema Express

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