Karthikeya 2 review: A haphazard story but an interesting watch

In a time when people are eagerly waiting for South releases, Karthikeya 2 comes as a pleasant surprise. As promised in the trailer, it is filled with highpumping action scenes, a goosebumpsinducing background score by renowned composer, Kaala Bhairava and a largerthan-life cinematography style, the film is every South enthusiast’s dream. But does the film really deliver the hype that it formed?

The story weaves somewhat diverse ideas that are haphazardly put together to form a rather interesting two and half hours. The mystery mythological thriller begins with an archaeologist in Greece who travels long distances to know the truth behind some discoveries he made that date back to Lord Krishna’s time. It then cuts to the origin story of God’s ornament that is passed down to generations. Cut back to the original timeline, the movie then drives its focus to our lead hunk, Dr Karthikeya, a leading scientist who believes in nothing but Science. But due to the insistence of his polar opposite mother, he somehow ends up in Dwarka. This is the moment when the story starts unfolding rapidly into a fast-paced mess filled with cops chasing, several attacks and some unfathomable circumstances that leave you scratching your head. It unravels how our protagonist is destiny’s child whose purpose in life was to not let the ornament fall into the wrong hands and save the world and humanity from impending doom. Nikhil delivers a performance that was expected from him – breathtaking. Although the script does not offer much to his role as a scientist, his action scenes and acting takes away the focus from his underwritten character. Anupama Parameswaran, Srinivasa Reddy and Harsha Chemudu provide good supporting characters that accompany the protagonist through his journey of astonishingly accidental discoveries. Anupama’s Mugdha also is shown to be a helpful decoding hand in the film instead of being a damsel in distress. The fact that her relationship with Karthikeya does not develop into a romantic one comes as a breath of fresh air. Aditya as the main villain of the secret society that wants the doom could have been bigger and better, but it gets away with the story. Anupam Kher’s five-minute appearance is anticipated in the film with a thumping background score and overthe-top dialogues that make you cringe.

Overall, Karthikeya 2 is a good watch that somehow surpasses its shortcomings to deliver a film that would entertain the viewers for the next two and half hours.