BIKER Movie Review

A section of the audience consistently gravitates toward sports dramas. Capitalising on that interest, Biker positions itself as India’s first motocross film and generated notable buzz through its promotions. Starring Sharwanand and directed by Abhilash Reddy, the film arrives with clear intent. The question is whether it lives up to the promise.

What it is about:

Set in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the story revolves around former motocross racer Sunil Narayan (Rajasekhar), who dreams of putting India on the global motocross map. He raises his son Vikas Narayan (Sharwanand) to become a top racer and fulfill that dream.

Vikas grows into a skilled rider, fully driven by his father’s vision. But after a dangerous accident, and under pressure from his love interest (Malavika Nair), he walks away from racing. What follows is the emotional and professional conflict , will he return to the sport, and will his father accept him again?

Performances:

Sharwanand fits perfectly into the role of Vikas. He brings sincerity to the character, especially in portraying the discipline and mindset of a racer. His physical transformation and body language add authenticity. He also handles the emotional portions well, particularly in father-son moments.

Rajasekhar, as Sunil Narayan (aka Bullet Sunil), delivers a composed and mature performance. Known for his intense roles, he takes a restrained approach here, which works. His character firmly believes that nothing comes before sport, and he carries that conviction effectively. The emotional scenes between him and Sharwanand in the latter half stand out.

Malavika Nair, Brahmaji, Tulasi, Atul Kulkarni and others do their parts well, though their roles are limited in scope.

Technicalities:

For a film like this, technical strength is crucial and Biker gets a lot right here.

The cinematography by J. Yuvraj is a major highlight. The racing sequences are shot with great energy and clarity, pulling the audience right into the track. Editing by Anil Pasala is decent. The non-linear narrative keeps things engaging in parts, though a few segments feel unnecessarily complex and could have been simplified.

Music by Ghibran works more in the background than in songs. The background score elevates several sequences, but the songs don’t leave much impact. Production values by UV Creations are solid and clearly visible on screen, giving the film a polished look.

Positives

Racing Sequences
Cinematography
Background Score
Performances

Negatives

Weak Conflicts
Flat Drama
Songs

Analysis:

How often do we see a sincerely made sports drama film in Telugu which is very true to its genre? A very few and far in between, right? Biker is one of those very few films. The director, Abhilash Reddy, took the backdrop of motocross (i.e. racing off-road motorbikes through dirt) and blended it well with emotional drama between a father and son. He also ensured in getting first-rate output from all the technical departments. The unique concept, technical values along with strong performances from Sharwanand and Rajasekhar, made the film fairly engaging, although at times the predictable narration dominates the freshness the motocross backdrop offers.

Sharwanand seems to have put a lot of effort into the motocross racing episodes. The director deserves a special mention for doing enough research on the backdrop and Sharwanand deserves equal accolades for getting the right body language of a racer. The technical fineness along with the lead actor’s efforts ensured the racing episodes left a breathtaking impact on the audience. Especially, the racing episodes during the initial parts of the film were first-rate and very engaging. We can see the amount of extra effort put in by the action choreographers while filming the racing episodes and all those efforts worked in favour of the film. The film runs on the equation between the father and the son and both Sharwanand and Rajasekhar along with Atul Kulkarni, made sure to keep the audience hooked with their performances and covered the flaws and predictability in writing.

If you have seen the two earlier works (Web Series – Loser and Movie – Maa Nanna Superhero) of the director, Abhilash Reddy, you will know that his strong forte is emotional drama. In Biker too, we can see the strong emotional drama but in most parts, it appeared very predictable and convenient. A bit more care in getting the emotional depth right with fresh ideas would have made the film even better. The film of this genre works out very well with the audience when it contains enough edge-of-the-seat highs. The director and the team came up with neatly executed racing episodes but a bit more care in giving the edge-of-the-seat thrills and emotional highs would have taken the film to the next level. Also, better care in writing should have been taken with Malvika Nair’s track. The writing and execution of her character appeared very cliched and it did not help the film in any way apart from adding to the runtime.

Overall, Biker may not be path-breaking but it definitely is a well-made film with the right intentions. You can safely give the film a try in watching it in theatres for the motocross backdrop, well-shot racing episodes and good performances from Sharwanand, Rajasekhar and Atul Kulkarni. However, a bit more effort in writing to avoid the predictability factor, would have made it a very memorable film.

Bottom Line – Engaging But Not On Top-Gear

Rating: 2.75/5