Munduvareda Adhyaya Movie Review: Fails to keep viewers riveted

Aditya, popularly known as Deadly Aditya, is back with a crime thriller ‘Munduvareda Adhyaya’. It was slated for release this day last year but was postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. It raised a lot of expectations among audience as director Balu Chandrashekar promised a crime thriller that mirrored the life of doubled-faced personalities found aplenty in our society. Sadly, 'Munduvareda Adhyay' fails to live up to the prerelease expectations.

The story begins with a young doctor (Acchari) on the run on Shivaratri and a prominent person (Contractor Vishwas Narayan) getting murdered. Acchari (Chandana Gowda) works in a hospital owned by MLA Shanth Shankar. She is assigned to lead a medical camp scheduled for next morning in the MLA’s constituency. Here opens the main plot. She stumbles on narcotics drugs being exchanged in the medical godown of the hospital. She records the shady deal on her mobile phone and sends the video to her journalist friend Sakshi (Ashika Somashekar) before being knocked unconscious by the baddies. Sakshi is kidnapped soon after. The story takes an intriguing turn with the man behind these illegal activities Contractor Vishwas Narayan, a prominent personality, getting murdered the same night. The blame for series of grim developments is left at the doorstep of MLA Shanth Shankar.

Here the director sets the tone of the crime thriller by roping in a super cop to crack the murder case.

But Bala (Aditya) faces an uphill task as there are too many suspects and twists and turns in his investigation. But the director’s attempt to keep the audience engrossed in the film falls flat in the second half.

'Munduvareda Adhyaya' has a strong and interesting premise that is let down by a weak narrative.

It seems that debutant director Balu Chandrashekhar has banked heavily on Hollywood crime thrillers to script a story to suit the taste of Kannada audience without much success. The film as it progresses tests the patience of viewers as the director takes his own time to present a convincing murder mystery plot.

Though Aditya delivers a decent performance and does justice to his character, Ashika Somashekar and Chandana Gowda don't get enough screen time to showcase their acting skills. Music by Johnny-Nithin and background score by Anoop Seelin is okay.

Written by Nischith N