Debutant director Narayan Nagendra Rao managed to create quite a splash with his promotions for this movie thanks to the freshness in the stills and the title's font style. I expected something different as I knew the story's 'one-line' before watching it. As a matter of fact it was different, but the director made a mess of it and subsequently fell between stools.
Set in a coffee shop on a rainy evening, an aspiring and struggling film director (Aari), a high-class Bangalore based girl (Shubha phutela), an upper middle class couple who are trying to put their lives together (Balaji and Tejaswini), an ambitious writer (RS Sivaji), Café's manager (Subbu Panchu) and two waiters were the characters that made up the entire movie. People realize the silliness and intricacies in life in a span of few hours, meanwhile our hero (Aari) wields his love towards the girl (Shubha Phutela) whom he falls head over heels at the first glance. As gross as it sounds it was even more tedious watching the entire thing unfold at a snail's space even after changing 3 or 4 seats in the theater which hosted under a dozen people.
The script was aimless and took the least leap forward to engross anyone. Dialogues would have been penned to keep up with the subtle theme of the movie but went haywire and made hardly any sense as the movie dwindled along. There was neither a strong premise to endear nor an engaging screenplay to lap up, leaving the entire movie and the audience in dire straits.
As far as the performances go, everyone were required to throw in their bare minimum, right from the lead actors who made their debut to Panju Subbu who promised some potential as a firm supporting cast until this fiasco. Since the scenes were artificially made up to bear a philosophical tone in the second half, the scenes which ought to mean something stood out like a sore thumb, failing to make an impression.
Cinematography by Gopi Amarnath was the only saving grace as the lighting and the coloring in each frame has tried to elevate this stale show as far as possible and added a youth appeal to it. Songs were pictured like music albums and had surreal undertones at times.
Music by debutant Acchu was another silver lining and the song 'En Uyire' was the pick of the lot. The BGM was above average without making much fuss. But again it was a let down due to ineffective screenplay and the placement of 5 songs in a span of 112 minutes could have been a real challenge.
Though the editor had his job cut out at keeping the movie under 2 hours (112 minutes), sloppy screenplay and a script without substance exposed the skin and left everyone clueless.
Rating: 1/5
Verdict: Stay away!
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