After unintentionally killing Alvernaz Alemao, the brother of former Goa chief minister Churchill Alemao, Costao Fernandes, the former officer from Marmagoa Custom House, spent a day hiding in the bush. With several injuries to his body, Costao had a very difficult time surviving.
Costao devoted his all to defend his innocence, but his only battle against a powerful and corrupt system didn’t start until he turned himself in to the police the following day. What if this terrifying moment had been the beginning of Sejal Shah’s biopic?
Sejal’s linear storytelling style in her directorial debut, Costao, the Hindi thriller on Zed5, saps the passion of her protagonist’s amazing trip. Costao, like many biopics, is happy to be a drama that is suitable for families. Hence, the movie is narrated from the point of view of Costao’s little daughter.
The film, which is set in the 1990s, attempts to portray Costao as a fitness enthusiast who is passionate about his work and nation. The sequences are characterized by a hint of tedium, which creates a minor disengagement from the action. Instead of viewing its protagonist as a singular figure, Costao operates slowly and portrays him as a conventional, exciting hero. It’s difficult to take the dramatic chase that culminates in Costao breaking Alemao’s gold smuggling in broad daylight seriously because of the quirky background music.
When Nawazuddin Siddiqui starts to persuade us of Costao’s fragility, the movie recovers wonderfully after a rough start. After a long legal turmoil, when Costao slowly gives in to the inevitability of his situation, you begin to feel for him, thanks to Siddiqui’s aching portrayal. We get a sense of the true Costao throughout the movie. He is a man who enjoys finding humor in dire circumstances. In a moment where Costao plays a practical joke on a mother at his daughter’s school, Siddiqui is funny and demonstrates his ability to play witty, gray characters. Costao is also a man who prefers logic over emotions, and that’s why he nonchalantly talks about the importance of eating to counter stress amidst a serious argument.
Perhaps he struggled to balance his work and family because of his unrelenting stress on responsibility and discipline. Costao fights to let go of his love for serving the country despite his self-confessed status as a “bad husband” and a “absent father.” This contradiction is brilliantly displayed during a well-acted argument with his wife (played by Priya Bapat), in which he emphasizes that he is innocent.
As Alemao, Kishore is given a one-dimensional antagonist role. Because of the forceful exchanges between Siddiqui and Kishore, a face-off between Alemao and Costao is captivating. Instead of the picture coming together properly as a whole, Costao has scenes that are thick but effective. The film ultimately turns out to be a compassionate depiction of an honest cop at the sacrifice of insights and a gripping story that goes along with a complicated legal issue, aside from a kind tribute to Goans. Right now, Costao may be seen streaming on Zee5.
