Like most investigative thrillers, Nanna Prakara opens with a murder. A woman’s body is found in a charred car on a highway. Inspector Ashok (Huli Kishore) rushes to the spot to take stock of the situation and in the next scene, two friends are seen approaching the police, seeking assistance to find their missing friend Vismaya (Mayuri). Investigations reveal that the charred body belongs to a woman named Vismaya. So, Ashok puts two and two together and concludes that it is an open and shut case, arresting Vismaya’s boyfriend (Niranjan Deshapande).
But, a twist arises when he finds out that there were two bodies inside the car. In the first half, apart from the poorly executed murder, Nanna Prakara takes a detour to show a happy couple - Inspector Ashok and his doctor wife Amrutha (Priyamani) - at their best. They also get a song which comes across as an unnecessary element. Post this, Amrutha takes off to the US on work and Ashok is stuck neck-deep in the murder mystery. Upon her return, Amrutha helps him find the biggest clue, following which Ashok is set to trace the real culprits. The second half of the film is all about decoding the murder mystery by carefully retracing each step taken by the culprits.
By the end of the film, however, both Kishore and the audience seem to be equally tired, waiting for curtains on the case. Nanna Prakara misses out on the most important element of a thriller film – the suspense. There are no edge-of-the-seat scenes. Instead of holding up the suspense, director Vinay Balaji monotonously keeps dropping hints at all the wrong places – probably to confuse the audience – and that has not worked in his favour.
The first half is loosely written and the film loses steam entirely in the second half. The more the filmmaker tries to confuse the audience by introducing several characters and twists, the more the audience loses interest. As the movie approaches climax, the scenes and props appear to have been conveniently tweaked, without any logic, only to push the movie through the climax. For example, it seemed like the filmmaker had purposefully drizzled sand on ceramic tiles to help the hero trace the footsteps of one of the culprits. This scene ends up being plain funny.
The cast of Nanna Prakara is impressive and they have performed with all their prowess. In fact, the cast is the only highlight of this mystery thriller. It is refreshing to see Kishore in a role that fits him like a glove. He couldn't have played a brooding personality any better. He gets the lion's share of the screen time. National Award winning actor Priyamani has done a commendable job and so has Mayuri, who plays different characters (shades of Vismayas) in the film. We also have another winner in Pramod Shetty, who is initially seen assisting Kishore, and gets one of the best-written roles. The film has two songs and neither is memorable. The background score is almost non-existent.
Nanna Prakara aspires to be different but that ends up being its undoing.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.