Takkar review: Siddharth can’t save this mediocre entertainer

The Tamil movie Takkar is now playing in cinemas across the UAE. It is directed by Karthik G Krish and stars Siddharth, Divyansha Kaushik, Yogi Babu, Abhimanyu Singh, Munishkanth, and RJ Vijnesh.

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How to watch Takkar in the UAE

Takkar is currently showing in cinemas across the UAE, such as VOX Cinema and Novo Cinemas. It will probably be a while before the film hits streaming services in the UAE.

Takkar review

On paper, the premise of Takkar, which has been released bilingually (Tamil and Telugu), is rather interesting. Two people have two different attitudes towards money. One thinks it is the only thing needed in life. The other feels that it is the root cause of all problems—the paths of the two cross each other. 

This is indeed a fascinating premise. It should trigger plenty of intriguing scenes. For instance, Anbe Sivam had many funny and thought-provoking sequences when a cloistered inward-thinking Madhava runs into an open-minded and accepting Kamal.  The setup is rife for such enjoyable exchanges. But they somehow don’t come together in Takkar. And that may be because the screenplay is all over the place, and the characterisation is weak and tepid.

Then again, Siddharth going from the city to a relatively small town and running into a mafia, got a different treatment in his now cult hit Jigarthanda. The 2014 Karthik Subburaj movie worked because of its zany characterisation and organic humour. 

Come to think of it, Takkar starts off promisingly. Gunz (Siddharth) is a young man who wants to get rich somehow, believing money is the best route to salvation in this earthly life. He runs out of ideas in the city and returns to his hometown, where he tries his best to make money, but nothing really clicks. These portions are rife for humour but fall flat.

Gunz becomes a cab driver and runs into a nefarious gang that kidnaps young girls for crimes. And it puts his life in peril. It is at this point Lucky (Divyansha Kaushik) enters his life. She is a rich and cynical person who has no great opinion or hope in life. She feels money is the trigger for all human problems. 

Gunz and Lucky, with differing world views, as ever, start off with friction. But eventually, things smoothen out, and their problems are also kind of sorted. 

Siddharth carries the film practically on his shoulder with an earnest performance. But the film needs much more than that. It requires a spark. In the comic segments. In the hero-heroine chemistry. In the screenplay. But that spark remains elusive till the end.

The second half meanders until it stutters to a typical climax. Yogi Babu and RJ Vignesh’s attempts at comedy are sorry. Abhimanyu Singh has a caricatured villain role that we have previously seen from the likes of Ashish Vidyarthi and Sayaji Shinde. 

The music of Nivas Prasanna, especially in the songs, is soothing. But Siddharth’s lone hand and Prasanna’s score can’t really help this movie that promised a lot.