Custody opens with a prologue that seems like the worst nightmare anyone could have. Things spiral out of control and everything that can go wrong does. It is the late 1990s. This incident, as expected, has a bearing on the rest of the story. Writer and director Venkat Prabhu gets to that conflict point much later in the story when one least expects it. He uses it to give an emotional heft to the actions of one of the principal characters. The director’s Telugu-Tamil bilingual starring Naga Chaitanya, Arvind Swami and Krithi Shetty also has several trademark Venkat Prabhu flourishes such as peppering the narrative with humour without diluting the tense moments. These segments work to the advantage of this action entertainer and help overlook some of the rough edges.
The Telugu version of Custody unravels in Rajahmundry where police constable Shiva (Naga Chaitanya) does not think twice before stopping the chief minister’s (Priyamani as Dakshayani) convoy to make way for an ambulance. She lauds him but he is taken to task by his superior. Post this, all that happens for about half an hour is the humdrum in Shiva’s everyday life and his romance with Revathy (Krithi Shetty). This is the calm before the storm. A lot of smaller details associated with some of the characters in these portions come in handy in the action segments later. Someone’s driving skills matter and so does a mortuary van that a family uses even to commute to auspicious beginnings, unmindful of how others might perceive it.
