Naveen Chandra's crime thriller Repeat directed by Aravind Srinivasan is set for streaming on December 1, 2022, on Disney+Hotstar. The film is a remake of the Tamil film Dejavu which got a good response from the viewers. Let us see whether the Telugu remake lived up to the expectations.
The story of Repeat is all about a police officer trying to solve a complicated case in which a writer experiences a peculiar condition. DGP Asha Pramod (Madhoo Shah) in Chennai finds her hands tied when a girl named Pooja gets kidnapped. She decides to investigate the case through personal channels and there enters special officer Vikram Kumar (Naveen Chandra). To find out, why Asha Pramod decides to investigate the case through personal channels, how Vikram Kumar handles it, and why the writer Subrahmanyam (Achyut Kumar) experiences mysterious developments, enjoy Repeat on Disney+Hotstar.
The story selected by Arvindh Srinivasan has some thrill factor. The film is a remake of the Tamil film Dejavu which starred Arulnidhi in the lead. Arvindh Srinivasan came up with a good theme but he failed to excite anyone as his screenplay and direction went awry. After an interesting start, things go nowhere with as the artists just pass through the motions with everything going according to the plan and no real twists and turns. Even when the so-called twists are revealed, one doesn't get excited as they lacked the emotional connection. Arvindh Srinivasan failed with his script and screenplay as they are full of illogical scenes and immense loopholes. With such flaws, one cannot take the narration forward in a gripping manner.
When Arvindh Srinivasan started the narration, one expected an interesting and different genre thriller. However, it doesn't take much time to fizzle out and at various times, the characters behave according to their convenience taking people for granted. After a tedious second half, the story drags towards the climax with Arvindh trying to justify the sequence of events but everything looks artificial.
Naveen Chandra did full justice to his role as the special officer. He looked dashing and played the role with intent. But at times, his expressions looked repetitive and it is not his fault as the director failed to get the optimum out of him. Madhoo Shah as the DGP is ok to some extent but at times, her expressions looked artificial and she went overboard delivering dialogues at the top of her voice. Others like Mime Gopi, Smruthi Venkat, Satyam Rajesh, Achyuth Kumar, Pooja Ramachandran, and Kaali Venkat performed according to their roles.
Ghibran elevated the scenes with his background music. His background music gave an intense feeling to the viewers. The cinematography of P.G. Muthiah is in sync with the story. He used good camera angles to give a realistic feel. The editing of Arul E Siddharth could have been better as there are repetitive scenes. This leads to the impression that the film is lengthy though the runtime is crispy.
Altogether, Naveen Chandra-Arvindh Srinivasan's Repeat had all the elements to become a good crime thriller. Arvindh Srinivasan starts the narration on the lines of Extra Sensory Power (ESP) but while concentrating on highlighting this ESP, he failed to generate interest or curiosity levels with the investigating scenes. Finally the writer with ESP fails to predict the upcoming scenes even as the viewers did, much to the disappointment of everyone. Even in the climax, instead of the special officer, unraveling the criminals and their twists, modus operandi, he other actors do it,one by one, as if they are waiting for their turn. All this turned Repeat into a silly one. Altogether Repeat has many boring and repetitive scenes. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2 rating for Repeat.