Goodachari Review (2018)

Goodachari, written by Adivi Shesh and Sashi Kiran Tikka, the latter having directed the movie too, is the Indian equivalent to Kingman: The Secret Service. Not necessarily in the way Kingman rejuvenated the spy thriller genre or its over the top gory action scenes, but by being contained and skilfully done. It even has a Kingsman like shop called Tailor Ma. Adivi Shesh leads the movie as Arjun aka Gopi, a man aspiring to join the secret service like his father. Once joined however, he is framed for the murder of his boss.

While this is all standard stuff to a degree, they are refreshingly done. While Arjun is aspiring, he is not shown to be an A+ performer or something, and his performance in the training doesn’t show that. He shares his concerns with his lover Sameera, whose talk helps him improve. Another scene like this involves Arjun and his boss Damodar. This is the film’s negative and positive. While on one hand we have this imperfect protagonist who is learning the tricks of the trade , we also have scenes where he improves just on the words of his colleagues, like in the snap of cut, making them feel like being done for the sake of creating a different character from the normal films.

But the performances are great. Adivi Shesh as Arjun is great giving this subtle performance which really makes him own the character. Prakash Raj as Arjun’s foster dad is phenomenal as always too. Jagapathi Babu plays the villain (as usual) and even though his character is this one note villain, a certain revelation gives his character more heart than usual. Vennela Kishore gives a cool performance as a computer expert, and he really needs more dramatic roles apart from his comedy, which is also great. The cast does a great job.

The first half is an extensive setup to the second half, and even though it is fast paced, it takes it time to setup these things. But one of the sore points is the Sameera angle, which eventhough has a good setup doesn’t give a big payoff in the 2nd half, due to it being predictable, if u have notices Sameera’ s behaviour. Speaking of payoffs and callbacks, the movie has some great scenes that hark back to scenes in the first half. But they are always intercut with a flashback or a dialogue which reminds of us. For a film which is actually pretty intelligent, these scenes feel spoon fed.

But eventhough these things are small roadblocks, they don’t affect the journey i.e the movie. The setup does take time, but once the plot really gets going, you are in for a great ride. Globe trotting spy work, stylish action sequences, great background score really makes this movie one of a kind Indian spy movies, well apart from Neeraj Pandey’s Baby.

Watch out for the movie posters in Arjun’s home. That’s a film buff’s dream.