The Ghost Review

The Ghost opens with a raid: Interpol officers Priya (Sonal Chauhan) and Vikram (Akkineni Nagarjuna) take out a group of smugglers somewhere in the high desertlands of East Arabia. After a volley of bullets wipes out the entire gang, Vikram and Priya, still in full tactical gear, turn towards each other and passionately kiss. These are the sort of tone-deaf theatrics that turn director Praveen Sattaru's crime thriller into a forgettable dud.

Soon after this raid, Vikram and his girlfriend-cum-partner Priya respond to a hostage situation that goes horribly wrong, marking the end of Vikram's career. He vows to take matters into his own hands, setting off on an idealistic one-man pursuit to stop all kidnappings and murders. His targets the "Underworld" - whether this is a crime syndicate or a nebulous reference to the Dubai mafia is never explained. For five years, he lives in the shadows. Then a phone call from his long-lost sister Anu (Gul Panag) brings him out of hiding.

Many parts of Ghost lack emotional authenticity. Anu ghosts her family, ignoring Vikram's calls and messages for two decades, not even showing up when her father is on his deathbed - all over an argument. Her behaviour is explained away by an offhand remark about her stubborn nature. Vikram too leaves behind Priya without so much as a sorry when he goes into hiding, calling on her only years later to help him protect his sister. Both the siblings come off as self-centered opportunists.

Another issue is the wannabe nature of the movie. These mafia goons are styled to look dangerous - there is an assassin with a neck tattoo of a scorpion (clearly a Sharpie-job); a man with a half-burned face; and a token White boss with a bad accent - but they are hardly scary. Then, Vikram's vigilante attire - a hooded cloak, a hilted sword - is a weak imitation of Marvel's Hawkeye as the Ronin. It seems Sattaru didn't stop to question how a mere mortal with a medieval sword stood any chance against the world's most hardened criminals and their ammo. Yet, impossibly, Vikram slices through their bodies like he is cutting butter, while others cower in the shadows holding guns that never shoot bullets.

There's also the issue of the lead actor. If Nagarjuna wants to be a Tom Cruise, doing kick-flips and shootouts at the age of 63, then maybe he should train like him. Nag lacks the vitality required to play Vikram. His best scenes are instead with Anika (who plays his vain schoolgirl niece Aditi) as they bicker over her bratty ways. There are some absurdly comical but nevertheless heartwarming moments where Vikram disciplines his niece by actually tasing her, and these sequences salvage the character to some extent.

Anika, for her part, puts up an impressive performance as Aditi, as does Gul Panag who plays her mother. Sonal Chauhan's character Priya is so poorly written that it is hard to judge her for it, but at least her stunts are well-choreographed.

The credibility issues of The Ghost continue right unto the end, with even the final showdown (set in an abandoned church) being as over-the-top as its beginning. A decapitated head is blown up like a watermelon. And about a million bullets fly as Mark Robin's score thunders in the background, but only the bad men in the room die.

The shallow characters of the movie and a script that primarily services a Tollywood star's image make its title Ghost feels like a reference to the emptiness of the theaters screening it. And there isn't much reason for you to try and remedy that.