Powder movie story: Annachi (Rangayana Raghu) is the local distributor of a mysterious drug that’s smuggled via a talcum powder – Gama Gama - consignment from China. The product of a faceless, but fearsome and ruthless drug lord called Bruce Lee, ‘Powder’ as the substance is referred to, lands at the wrong destination following a labelling error.

The ‘Powder’ finds it way on to the shelves of a small-time supermarket in Mysuru, where Surya (Diganth) is an employee. The actual Gama Gama is a brand Surya uses liberally, as also his roommate and pal Karan (Anirudh Acharya), but when the tin with the narcotic ends up in their possession and they figure out the mix up, they try to turn the situation to their advantage.

But with Bruce Lee, a hired assassin, and Annachi desperately on the hunt for the missing drugs, can Surya, his girlfriend Nithya (Dhanya Ramkumar) and Karan make a quick buck after all?

Powder movie review: When the trailer of Powder came out before its theatrical outing, the first thought that struck was that the subject, following a bunch of people on the trail of a missing consignment of drugs, felt like the Hollywood movie Cocaine Bear, albeit without a bear. I wasn’t completely off the mark. Powder, which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, is like Cocaine Bear without the bear, is not half as funny and has literally no blood shed. Oh wait, couple of people get shot, including one on the ass, which has ceased being funny a long time ago.

The film was marketed as a comedy, but its biggest failing is in not living up to the genre. There are hardly any laugh-worthy moments and even those may not work for all audience demographics. If you can laugh at Dr Who being called Dr Ho, you may find Powder funny in parts. I spent more time rolling my eyes at what was meant to be comedic, so this was definitely not for me.

Powder has a formidable cast on board – Diganth, Dhanya Ramkumar, Rangayana Raghu, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Nagabhushana, Huli Karthik, Ravishankar Gowda, Bharath GB and Sharmiela Mandre, and while they have each done justice to their roles individually, as a unit, it doesn’t come together cohesively. Mindless comedy can be entertaining, as seen in the more recent Family Drama. That film didn’t nail the fun riot entirely, but had far more moments that evoked laughter.

Powder movie verdict: Janardhan Chikkanna’s film is silly, but hardly entertaining. If the absurd tickles your funny bone, you could check out this Powder and see if it gives you a high after all. It didn’t work for me.

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