Ghost Review - An Out-and-Out Shiva Rajkumar Mass In A Woozy Gangster Thriller

Ghost Review: M. G. Srinivas has a new, fresh chapter in his universe, which will be turned into the Birbal trilogy. He appears in a cameo role from his Birbal, but it's not necessary to watch that film to understand Ghost. This is a complete, fresh story from start to finish that will be linked to the Birbal Universe in the future. Srinivas has been a commercial director in the turning phase of Kannada cinema, but even he can't beat the substandard filmmaking of the particular market. Ghost is extra loud, just like any other known mass flick from Sandalwood. Be it KGF, Ugram, or Kabzaa—I can't understand why they have to be extra loud and so messy (this is particularly about mass-action films, not content-driven or artistic films Kannada cinema makes). Ghost has a story that makes more sense than KGF; it has more thrills, more twists, more mass, and more explosions. It's just that there is no stability. Just like many other Kannada action flicks, which are being loved by their audiences but have no impact here in the North.

Ghost has one plot and several subplots. It's difficult to share the plot and not reveal the twists because there are so many. Well, here's a brief take. A police station is hijacked by an unknown gangster and accomplices to find the gold that was buried there years ago. The leader, the unknown force, the unbeatable, the mighty, the boss—all in one is called the Ghost (Shiva Rajkumar), who has plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D... Plan Z for every single movement of the investigation officer (Jayaram). The cat and mouse game starts and ends after every 10 minutes. You have a new twist every 15 minutes, and at the end, you get to the backstory and the backstory of the backstory. Of course, you can predict that the OG gangster will remain unbeaten, but how? That you can't really predict.

Ghost is a very interesting story if we look at it as a basic plot on paper. A gangster playing tricks and moves like a champion player does in chess is indeed a breathtaking thing to watch. I kept telling myself, "What would happen if such a smart story could be written for pan-India blockbusters that became blockbusters with average scripts?" Well, it's all served in a chaotic manner. The storytelling is definitely problematic. You can't justify a good script with a woozy screenplay, substandard materialism, and poor quality presentation of the entire world of your film. There can be hundreds of other mistakes that I will forgive, but not such filmmaking. This is 2023, and we, as 2023 audiences, certainly deserve to see something that has stability and is far from vulnerability.

Ghost can be explained in one sentence, saying, "It's an out-and-out Shiva Rajkumar show". Srinivas knew Shivanna's image and stature, and he presented him like a GHOST GOD! He may be God for his fans, but the character should haunt them like a ghost—that's the basic idea. Apparently, he has 6-7 slow mo walks, swagger moments, and action sequences. A dozen massy dialogues should serve his fans to a full tummy. What an aura this man has, by the way. And how many times can we say the same thing in different ways? The daddy of all masses—that's how they summed it up, and I like it. Jayaram has a meaty role, even though it is overshadowed by Shivanna's rioting mass. Archana Jois is decent in the role of a journalist, while Prashanth Narayanan doesn't go above a certain level with his limited screen space. Satya Prakash, Anupam Kher, and MG Srinivas come and go without any disturbance in cameo roles.

Like I said, Ghost is an extra-loud film, so things become irritating sometimes. The background score, for instance. It has a vibe, a tune, and an instant impact, but just because the film is overloud, you kind of get bored of it. The camerawork is very good, as I didn't get bored of the same top views and close, shaky, and pacy shots after a while. They become a kind of USP of the film. Ghost has those ghostly effects in that sense, and with the help of graphics, it's quite a horror-type thing to watch. The editor could have done a better job, and Hindi dubbing is too bad. M. G. Srinivas had a superstar, a superhero-level script, and a super team, but he couldn't just crack the screenwriting and storytelling features well. The same story would have gone to heights with better vision, but here it's stuck to traditional masala. In short, Ghost can be watched for Shivanna's mega-mass-mania, but on the other side, there is nothing to match it.