Movie Name : 45
Release Date : Jan 01, 2026
123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5
Starring : Shiva Rajkumar, Upendra, Raj B. Shetty, Kaustubha Mani, Jisshu Sengupta & Others
Director : Arjun Janya
Producer : M. Ramesh Reddy
Music Director : Arjun Janya
Cinematographer : Satya Hegde
Editor : K. M. Prakash
Related Links : Trailer
Kannada stars Shiva Rajkumar, Upendra, and Raj B. Shetty headline the fantasy action drama 45. Following its Kannada theatrical release in December 2025, the Telugu version has now arrived in cinemas as a New Year special. Here’s how the film fares.
Story:
Vinay (Raj B. Shetty) is a software employee who dreams of being killed in a bike accident after hitting a dog. Soon, parts of the dream begin to turn real. The dog, Rossy, belongs to Rayappa (Upendra), a feared don who treats it like his mother. Holding Vinay responsible for its death, Rayappa brutally attacks him and declares that he will be killed in 45 days. As Vinay starts counting his days, his life slowly falls apart. He loses his job, girlfriend, and friends, leaving him shaken and helpless. At this point, a calm and philanthropic man named Shiva (Shiva Rajkumar) enters his life and tries to guide him. Who Shiva really is, why he wants to help Vinay, and whether Rayappa spares or kills him form the rest of the story.
Plus Points:
It’s a big win for Arjun Janya, music director who made his directing debut, and convincing three stars of Kannada to act in a movie. All the characters are neatly designed.
Raj B Shetty gives a settled performance and he lives the role with audacity. The fear of death and the follow up events are well expressed through his performance.
Upendra turns a baddie for this movie, and his stylish looks and fights work well with his fans. Finally, Shiva Rajkumar, who enters in the second half, delivers a cool performance.
The initial portions are neatly arranged and executed, keeping once invested to see what will go on next. The climax fight where the different forms of god appear and fight with Upendra are well shown and it is the best part to look out in the entire movie.
Minus Points:
The film opens well and the set up makes one feel that something is planned big. But, the momentum slowly disappears and the story moves like a snail with dull scenes that sometimes feel repetitive. If we think that this is only limited to first half, it’s not. The second half, which one thinks that the real game begins, is same until the climax comes in.
It is great convincing three stars to act in a movie but at the same time, the director could have written better character arcs for them. Of course, It is the problem with the story. It is nothing impressive after all few minutes of beginning and the raciness slowly fades away to move at snail pace.
Shiva Rajkumar does his part, but the comedy scenes designed with him doesn’t land well and they feel like fillers that intervene in the seriously driven plot, only to nullify the watching experience. Upendra is okay but all his scenes are like ‘come, fight, give warning and leave’ type. The same style repeated for multiple times and it gives boredom to one watching.
The entire story is to tell the karma concept in a modern form. It is fine to tell so, but the lack of proper emotional support and strong scenes to build the momentum made it an understatement. A better writing and screenplay could have done magic.
No other characters have strong value and even mother’s emotion that became a hook point during interval was left behind after the interval. There are such many disjointed scenes in this movie.
Technical Aspects:
Arjun Janya thought of to present the karmic themes differently but his pale writing and underdeveloped characters limited his ambition. Technically, the movie is rich in money. The makers spend very huge on VFX but, it looks underwhelming on big screen. Climax is something okay not great. Background score done by the director himself is unnecessarily loud and fits only in some portions. Editing by K M Prakash is totally upsetting. It has a lot of room for trimming unnecessary and laggy scenes in both halves and thus the runtime could have been shortened. Production values are just fine.
Verdict:
On the whole, 45 is a mediocre outing despite having an ambitious story to tell. The poor writing and screenplay limited its appeal to viewers. Though the performances of the lead actors are acceptable, the limiting of their characters being better, and unnecessary scenes along with lag, made the fantasy drama feel underwhelming. Except the climax scene, there is no worthy scene to watch out for. It is better to look out for other alternative movies to spend this New Year eve.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team