Story
Vijay Varma (Vijay Varma) is an officer at NIA (National Investigation Agency). He is called Wild Dog because he is hot-tempered and doesn't follow the rules to get the results. He is side-lined to desk duties by the superiors. Pune’s Bakery bomb blasts prompts NIA chief to recall Vijay Varma to investigation duty. Rest of the story is all about how the Wild Dog team cracks the case and arrests the culprit.
Artists Performance
Nagarjuna looks realistic and tough as a NIA officer. He keeps content above stardom in films like these. And it helps. Saiyami Kher is a lethal beauty in the film where she looks hot and at the same time possesses good combat skills. Atul Kulkarni is perfect in a reassuring role of Wild Dog’s boss. Dia Mirza’s role is limited as a supporting wife. All others are aptly cast.
Technical departments
Story - screenplay - direction: The story is based on real incidents involving various bomb blasts. The villain character is based on Yasin Bhatkal who is the mastermind behind Pune’s bakery blast and who was later nabbed by the Indian police in Nepal in 2013. The director tried to make it a personal cause by making the hero's daughter a victim in bomb blasts. The debutant director Ahishor Solomon picks up an interesting premise. However the story and subplots are not big enough for a 2- hour film. A subject like this can be dealt in two ways - extravagance (Extraction film) or in a realistic manner (Argo). The director has taken the path to narrate in a realistic manner. Though most of the fights are realistic, vital ones are too cinematic (maoists episode). The director has taken a lot of time to establish the plot in the first half. However, the film gets interesting and picks the pace only in the second half. It’s a predictable screenplay for the movie lovers who are familiar with such kinds of films/series. The concept of extraction, safehouses, exfiltration etc is familiar for OTT addicts. The director has made sure that some of these technical words are explained to audiences through conversation written among Wild Dog team members. The director should have made the film with a more emotional quotient and with a gripping screenplay.
A few scenes which are supposed to raise the thrill among the audiences didn’t work to the maximum extent -
1. Wild Dog gang catering in a wedding where the terrorist visits (this scene is inspired by the opening episode of Israel Netflix series “Fauda’ where the Israel Defence Force unit serves at a wedding to get hold of a dreaded terrorist. But didn’t work to such an extent in the Wild Dog.)
2. The border crossing episode in the climax. The entire sequence should have been more gripping (example: the climax of Argo where tension raises to maximum extent).
Despite a few shortcomings, the debutant director has done a decent job for the genre/subject he has chosen.
Other departments: Shaneil Deo’s photography is very realistic. Background music by Thaman helps the proceedings in the movie. Dialogues by Kiran Kumar are alright. Editing is okay. Production design by Murali is good (especially the realistic locations). Action sequences are decent. The producers should be appreciated for backing up a different genre film.
Analysis: Wild Dog has a simple plot and is based on real incidents. First half of the film has less interaction and the second half deals with the main plot of the film. Plus points of the film are the cast, realistic plot and the second half. On the flip side, the director should have written vital episodes in a more engaging/arresting way. On the whole, Wild Dog is a niche film and made with conviction. Nagarjuna is known for encouraging the new talent and he is one of the big heroes who doesn’t shy away from attempting different genres. Sometimes these attempts succeed and some other times they fail. Wild Dog is one such an attempt where it partly succeeds.
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