Plot: Raghava lives in Lucknow with his son Arjun and is the head cook in a Brahmin's catering unit. He leads a peaceful existence, wanting the best for his son. All seems to go well, until some skeletons come tumbling out of his closet and he is forced to take on his original avatar.
Review: There are mammoth expectations from this film that has Darshan and Tharun Kishore Sudhir teaming up for the first time together for a full fledged film. The film, which releases almost a year after its original release date, manages to live up to that and ends up being more than just a mass action entertainer and has enough to cater to the family audience too.
The filmmakers had revealed just a few massy dialogues along with some sparse action scenes and some songs. And this selective revealing works for the film as there is enough to get the audience wowed. There's not only an action treat for Darshan fans but also an emotional drama that weaves those moments together.
It would do injustice to discuss to the narrative to reveal more of the story, but what can be shared is that Darshan's transition from Raghava to Roberrt is only best experienced in a packed cinema hall, replete with whistles and hoots. The actor does full justice to the well etched character by Tharun and arguably gives one of his best performances in his career thus far.
While the film is majorly about the journey of Darshan's character and has a heartwarming tale to support it, the rest of the cast members do their bits and shine. If Ravi Kishen provides some of the thrill in the first half, Jagapathi Babu and P Ravi Shankar provide the menacing bits for the second half.
The other two members who need to be mentioned are Vinod Prabhakar and Asha Bhat. Vinod has a character that will be loved by the mass audiences and looks his best in his career. Asha makes a good debut and proves that there's a good new local talent who can find her space in Sandalwood.
There's comedy that is not over the top. Chikkanna and Shivaraj KR Pete are entertaining. And full marks to Tharun for being sensitive while showing an LGBTQ+ character in a mass film and also subtly driving home a message and staying away from the cliched mindless humour.
The visuals are rich and the background score supports what is being shown on screen. There may be a song or two extra that could have been taken out to make the film tighter, but those can be overlooked as the film eventually entertains. Fans expected a festive spread from Roberrt and the film delivers that.