Costao review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui shines in a story of great grit

Costao movie review

So, one more biopic and /or one more story based on real life incident coming from Bollywood?. Does ‘Costao’ gives respect and is near to reality?

Well, I cannot claim how near the movie ‘Costao’ is real to what happened with the brave heart custom officer from Goa but I can certainly say that movie ‘Castao’ by the debutant director Sejal Shah convinced me about the great determination of Costao Fernandes played strikingly by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

The grit displayed by Costao Fernandes in standing strong against the mighty gold smugglers is an inspiring story that needs to be told.

However, we have seen that biopic when made into screen often omit the controversial or negative traits of the person. We hardly come across biopics that showcase the person concerned as human and making mistakes.

Thankfully, ‘Costao’ doesn’t fall into that prey and showcases its protagonist Costao Fernandes as human. He has his weakness, Costao’s life and his relationship with his wife Maria (Priya Bapat) gets disturbed after the ‘Peter’ incident, cracks start developing and the arguments between Maria and Costao seem natural.

Writers – Bhavesh Mandalia and Meghna Srivastava along with the director design the prime characters properly giving them the right arc. The audience react organically and there is no force or manipulation.

Interestingly, the story of Costao Fernandes if he was not in real, is anytime fit for a mainstream Bollywood action masala film. And surprisingly there is not much action in ‘Castao’, but the movie still engages on its core strength of emotion, drama and moral conflict.

Technicalities

Technically sound with first rate production values. Rafey Mahmood’s cinematography captures the exotic beauty of Goa and the turmoil of Costao perfectly. Editing by Unnikrishnan is fine. Sapna Chandra’s production designing is adequate. Ketan Sodha’s background score deserve special mention.

Performance

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Costao Fernandes is fabulous and shines brightly as the custom officer who goes through lot of humiliation and makes sacrifices to keep his integrity and loyalty intact.

Priya Bapat as Maria Fernandes – wife of Costao is very good.

Sad to see Kishore Kumar G as D’Mello after good initial set up reduced to gazes.

Hussain Dalal as Peter is good in a brief role.

Gagan Dev Riar makes his presence felt in a brief appereance but suddenly disappears  

Costao movie review – final words

‘Costao’ is a story about great grit, courage, sacrifice, it’s about a ‘real’ hero Costao Fernandes adapted on screen where Nawazuddin Siddiqui nails it with perfection in Sejal Shah’s directorial debut.

Going with a deserving three and a half star out of five.

Produced by Vinod Bhanushali, Kamlesh Bhanushali, Bhavesh Mandalia, Sejal Shah, Shyam Sunder & Faizuddin Siddiqui and written by Bhavesh Mandalia & Meghna Srivastava, Costao will be streaming on ZEE5 starting May 1, 2025.