A conversation in the film goes on these lines. Kajal introduces herself as Samyukta Chaganti and the hero s mother tells her that her second name or  inti peru  doesn t suit her and she should choose a more prominent and powerful surname like Deverakonda, Bellamkonda… you get the drift. The hero, Vijay (Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas), tries not to blush. This is one of the several not-so-subtle attempts to heighten the star quotient of the actor. The painstaking effort is jarring, as we listen in to lines about being a righteous cop, the split-second difference between a winner and a loser, the ultimate protector and more.

Kavacham begins like a mainstream cop drama. A woman is kidnapped in the opening sequence and this incident is forgotten until much later. We are introduced to cop Vijay, who s better known as encounter Vijay. He does the hard work while his senior Chintakayala Aavesam (Posani Krishna Murali) wants to take credit. Vijay is smitten when he meets Kajal who works at a coffee shop, and his uber cool mom encourages him to woo the girl. There s a hint that Kajal isn t as simple as she seems to be — she doesn t know the right way to eat paani puri!

A turn of events shakes up Vijay s budding romance, he moves on to focus completely on work. Unknowingly, a large trap is laid out for him and he bites the bait by helping someone in distress. The cat and mouse game begins. Kavacham introduces a few interesting characters enacted by Ajay, Mehreen, Harish Uthaman, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Harshvardhan Rane. Among them, Harish Uthaman is impressive.

The shopping mall sequence where one man outwits a group of cops is well executed and makes you wonder why the portions leading up to this weren t half as smart. This hope is short-lived as a song and dance sequence follows.

Kavacham takes the formula of half a dozen songs and fights seriously and there s no escaping them. The film feels like a long showreel for Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas. The larger kidnap drama perks up things a wee bit, even though it s easy to predict the identity of the perpetrator. When the dots begin to connect, they oversimplify things through a long explanation and drag the fight beyond a point of interest. Why hark back to the staid method of a prolonged action episode where the hero has to save his near and dear ones? The desperate effort to turn to Mahabharata and reference Padmavyuham to lend some gravitas to the proceedings doesn t work.

Almost towards the end of the film, the hero declares  now the show begins . Enough already!