47 Days

Story: ACP Satya (Satyadev) is grief-stricken due to the death of his loving wife Paddu (Roshini Prakash). However he chances upon a case that might finally give him all the answers he’s looking for.

Review: With his debut film 47 Days (the title being a nod to K Balachander’s Chiranjeevi starrer 47 Rojulu, which has nothing to do with this story), Pradeep Maddali takes on way more than he can chew. There are cagey suicides, a girl, drug rings and a lot more mysterious things about the film, but due to the film’s shoddy screenplay, it all seems muddled into one big, hot mess instead of being the edge-of-the-seat thriller it promises to be.

ACP Satya (Satyadev) is on a six-month suspension because he cannot get over his wife Paddu’s (Roshini Prakash) suicide. The once empathetic street-smart cop who’s against police brutality has now turned into an alcoholic who keeps hallucinating his dead wife and is never taken seriously. Not even their child Swetcha can keep him sane enough. One day, his colleague Ravi (Ravi Varma) talks to him about a case, the suicide of a rich tycoon who runs a pharmaceutical company. A very distinct similarity between both cases is all it takes for Satya to spiral down a rabbit hole featuring drugs, corrupt cops and more.

On the surface, the story shows promise, what with a disgraced cop trying to get pieces of his life back together so he can resume duty and make sense of the void left in his life. But the execution is so poorly done you can’t help but feel bad for Satyadev, who seems to have poured his life and soul into the role. Pooja Jhaveri plays Juliet whose intentions are initially never made clear, but despite the narrative trying hard to create a sense of curiosity around her, you’re never invested enough to care. But she delivers a good enough performance, so does Roshini. While Srikanth Iyengar too does his best, his character almost comes across as caricature-ish.

The ‘twists’ in the film are as predictable as they came and even if it takes ACP Satya 47 days to piece together the story, you’re always a step ahead thanks to Pradeep’s narrative that always shows its hand before the big reveal. Putting aside the fact that most of the plot-points in the film and the music by Raghu Kunche (fusions featuring Hindi and English lyrics) are painfully outdated, the film seems borderline problematic with the kind of narratives it builds around the abused women in the film, especially when one of them had a strong support system that could help her recover the trauma. The cinematography and editing (despite the short run-time) have nothing much to write home about either.

47 Days only works in bits and pieces because Satyadev does enough to ensure you stay invested in his character. This one’s a missed opportunity!