The second instalment of this whodunnit strikes out on its own

Shivaji Surathkal 2 (Kannada/Theatres)

Director: Akash Srivatsa

Cast: Ramesh Aravind, Radhika Narayan

Rating: 3.5/5

Filmmaker Akash Srivasta is back three years after ‘Shivaji Surathkal’, a mystery thriller. Though this franchise film is a continuation of its prequel, it has an independent plot.

While in the prequel, Shivaji Karnataka’s Sherlock Holmes (Ramesh Aravind) detected one murder, in the sequel, he is tasked with detecting three.

Exceptional investigative and imaginative skills of the officer are put to the test as the serial killer challenges him after every murder.

The flick opens with the officer meeting a woman, holding her baby. She pleads with him to save the baby from ‘that demon’. Within minutes, she is found on the road, bleeding profusely due to a hit-and-run accident. She requests him to take care of the baby and dies.

Five years later, the grown-up daughter of a police photographer is found dead. The case is handed over to Shivaji for investigation. This is followed by two murders. The officer struggles to solve the cases. He is shocked when he decodes the motive of the assailant as three murders have connections to his life. Will he stop the fifth murder? The answer to this question forms the crux of the story.

The flick deviates from a set pattern that a whodunit usually follows. Normally, there are leads that point to suspects and their motive. The officer imagines developments reconstructing incidents that possibly led to the three murders. This helps him arrive at logical decisions. This also keeps the audience guessing on whether the track has any relevance to the story. The train of thought that the filmmaker introduces increases in intensity offering a lot of food for thought.

Flashbacks narrate the life of the officer who is unable to overcome the trauma of personal tragedies. The sequel turns out to be a tribute to father-child relationships.

Ramesh Aravind delivers a restrained performance. Other ensemble cast members slip into their roles comfortably.