Ugram movie review: Even Allari Naresh cannot save this cop drama

Hyderabad: Allari Naresh returns to the big screen with the cop drama ‘Ugram.’ Directed by Vijay Kanakamedala, the film stars Mrinaa as the leading lady. Sahu Gaarapati and Harish Peddi have produced the film which is receiving positive reviews. Here’s our review:

Story

Shiva (Allari Naresh), a sub-inspector in Hyderabad, admits his wife Aparna (Mrinaa) and daughter Lucky are in a hospital after they suffer minor injuries in a midnight accident. After waking up in the same hospital the next day, he finds that his wife and kid are missing. When asked, the hospital management denies the admission of the victims to their hospital. Soon, the cop realises that his family has gone missing and so have many other girls in the city. Will Shiva crack the case and find out where his wife and kid are? Is there a gang that is kidnapping girls to take revenge on the cop? Who is the mastermind behind this crime?

Review

First of all, this film, which starts as a cop drama, slowly becomes an action thriller and then brings human trafficking and medical scams into the picture. The screenplay in the first half doesn’t impress at all. There are quite a lot of unnecessary scenes and if the director made sure to avoid them, the screenplay and narrative would have been a lot better.

The director took the entire first half just to develop the plot and make the audience understand where it is going. The missing case scenario, the personal life of the cop, what are the cases he solves, and what leads to the mystery of his life is what the first half is all about.

The second half is a lot better than the first one but still, it entertains in bits and pieces. The second half has good twists and turns but unfortunately, it fails to engage the audience.

During an important investigation, there comes a duet in between with no connection to what is happening. Though the director tries to convince us, he fails. Also, there is a lot of lag in the first half of the film.

Performances

Allari Naresh has come out of his comfort zone for this character. He is known for playing comedy roles but for a change, with ‘Naandi’ and ‘Maredumilli Prajaneekam,’ he chose to play content-driven roles and proved that he can do a lot better than just playing comedy roles. Shatru, who played a junior to the SI, is seen throughout the movie and he too did a good job.

Senior actress Indraja plays a doctor in the film and she helps Shiva get better after his accident. She is one of the amazing performers of the film. Mrinaa, the heroine, has nothing much to do in the film. Her screen space is less.