Naga Chaitanya-Venkat Prabhu's Custody is capturing the attention of all as they are coming together for the first time. The film is a bilingual entertainer released even in other languages. The film's teaser and trailer got good responses and is releasing on 12 May 2023. The film's OTT streaming rights are yet to be finalised and date will be announced after the end of its theatrical run.
Custody story is about an honest police constable who fights all odds to bring arrest a dreaded gangster and punish him according to the law. Shiva (Naga Chaitanya) is an honest police officer in Rajamundry and how his life changes drastically when he comes into contact with the dreaded gangster Raju aka Razu(Arvind Swamy).
What are the repercussions and how CM Dakshayani (Priyamani), CBI Officer ( Sampath Raj), police officer Nataraj ( Sarath Kumar), driving school instructor Revathi (Krthi Shetty), his father (Goparaju Ramana) are connected to it from the crux of the story?
Naga Chaitanya worked hard for his role. He put in lot of effort but everything went for a toss due to the poor content. He even tonee down his usual antics and changed his look for the role of the cop. Krithi Shetty is ok in her role that is inconsequential . Arvind Swamy is good in the role of a dreaded gangster. He tried to elevate the scenes with his performance but his role didn't offer much scope. Priyamani is ok in the role of chief minister. She showed good emotions as a arrogant CM. R.Sarathkumar, Sampath Raj played key roles in typical manner. Vennela Kishor irritates with his comedy. Ramki, YG.Mahendran, Ravi Prakash, Goparaju Venkataramana are ok in their roles.
Custody story selected by Venkat Prabhu is all about an honest officer and how he braved all odds and took risks for the society. Many such films came earlier but Venkat Prabhu decided to go with it and elevate the heroism of Naga Chaitanya to the new level. But alas, right from the start till the finish Venkat Prabhu much to the shock of all failed on all fronts.
Everything turned out to be routine and he spent the entire first half highlighting the romantic angle of the honest cop. Only ahead of the interval, the antagonist is introduced and people expect things to change in the second half.
But the second half is loaded with action and chase sequences which after a point of time turned out to be illogical and silly and this disappoints all the fans and movie lovers. Finally, when the film ends, people heave a sigh of relief. Venkat Prabhu failed on all fronts be it story, screenplay, and direction. The script turned out to be the biggest drawback.
Ilayaraja and Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is just ok. The songs acted as speed brakers to the already spineless narration. Yuvan Shankar Raja's background score turned out to be below average. The editing of Venkat Raajen left a lot to be desired. There are many drags that slowed the pace of the narration but he cannot be blamed as the story is outdated to the core. SR. Kathir's cinematography is ok. The dialogues of Abburi Ravi are just average. Production values of Srinivasaa Silver Screen are ok.
Altogether, Custody turned out to be an outdated story. Expectations soared as Naga Chaitanya teamed with Venkat Prabhu who earlier created a sensation with a thriller like Manaadu. Naga Chaitanya cannot be criticized but Venkat Prabhu failed to repose the confidence shown in him by Naga Chaitanya.
Venkat Prabhu failed in all the crafts and no amount of fine-tuning would have helped the project. The film is another example of how not to make a project. The top of it, the Tamil flavor makes viewers find it difficult to digest. This proved that associating with big names alone will not guarantee success and only strong story and content turn out tobe the king at the box office. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2.25 Rating for Custody.