Agni Sridhar's book/story based Chaitanya's Aa Dinagalu and Sumana's Edegaarike were both extremely well written, directed, and acted. I was expecting something better or at least, equally good from Headbush since it's the genesis story- the birth of a very complex, grey, and bloody underworld in Bangalore. But I was greatly disappointed as Headbush felt like a run-of-the-mill, plebeian underworld movie.
Throughout the movie I could see the poor direction everywhere. Be it the flow of the story, the way the scenes are cut, dialogues, the way the characters act, the way they speak, they behave, their decisions, the protagonist's 'star' moments, the very obvious foreshadowing of a deception, the politicians' mannerisms, etc. Everything was naive and amateurish. The story of Urs, his attempts at solving caste/class struggle, Indira Brigade, the birth of Jayaraj... are all quite complex and nuanced. But in the hands of the current director, they look silly and blunt.
And that's just about the underworld of 70s and 80s. In addition, Agni Sridhar's interpretations should be presented with elegance, intelligence, poetry, and a touch of philosophy. That's what set his two previous movies apart from every gangster movie made in India. In Headbush, let alone the characters from or "caught" in the underworld, even the politicians at the top sound and look like cheap caricatures of an 80s cheesy cop movie. I hope Sridhar brings back someone like Chaitanya or Sumana Kittur for his next story and let go of the part-2 of Headbush.