Custody Movie Review : a web of murders with weak knots

By Susmita Sameera



Ruling party MLA Chakri’s brother, Scent Seena (Cockroach Sudhir), is murdered. Soon after, another party member goes missing. Given the high-profile nature of the case, the most fierce and efficient officer, Durga Parameshwari (Priya Shatamarshan), is appointed to investigate, assisted by Subhash (J. J. Srinivas).



As Durga begins digging into the case, a second murder occurs, this time of an aspiring actress, carried out in the same manner. Before there’s time to recover, yet another murder takes place. Pressure mounts, and higher authorities begin questioning her methods. Just as they move to replace her with another officer, Bharath (Nagendra Urs), an anonymous body, murdered in the same way, is found in her own home. This leads to Durga herself being taken into custody.



What follows is the story of how Officer Durga, caught in such a complex situation, fights to solve the case while also working to clear her own name, forming the crux of this crime drama.



The film attempts to create surprise and curiosity through multiple murders, flashbacks, and themes such as human trafficking, kidnapping, sex scandals, betrayal, political intervention, corrupt law enforcement, honest policing, family sentiment, and more. However, the screenplay and dialogues fail to generate the emotional intensity needed to keep the audience engaged. There are few true edge-of-the-seat moments for a crime thriller, and some plot points become predictable, flattening the drama. At times, the dialogues are unnecessarily sharp, further diluting the impact.



Technically, the movie only manages to make do. Overall, it is a crime thriller drama that tries hard but ultimately falls short of leaving a lasting impression.