FILM REVIEWS

Dhun
Colours (Kannada)
(Triveni)
Cast: Mandya Ramesh, Janhvi, Niwas, Sai Krishna, Pshpaswamy, Rakesh, Tennis Krishna, Bank Janardhan, Rekha Das 
Director: Ramesh P C

One of the welcome changes in the present genre of Kannada movies is the introduction of new faces and change in themes. At least you can heave a sigh of relief as you need not see the same old monotonous acting and same old faces!

Colours, a comedy, is all about five friends - Paandu (Mandya Ramesh), Kumar (Niwas), Ranga (Sai Krishna), Hari (Rakesh) and Vittala (Pushpaswamy). 
While Paandu is studious, the other four the opposite. After graduation, Paandu becomes a lecturer in a Bangalore college while the other four continue to be students.

All the five stay together in a rented house. Vyjayanthi (Janhvi) is their neighbour who is also studying in the same college. Paandu falls flat for Vyjayanthi and tries his level best to gain her love, but fails every time (more than 10 times). 

The reason: find yourself. One more interesting factor about this movie is that there is no storyline. Instead, many small incidents have been woven making it appear like episodes is a mega serial!

Colours revolves round these five youth and Vyjayanthi, their pranks and their efforts of getting others into trouble (also called as ‘fitting’ in movie).
Sai Krishna, the ‘smartest’ in the group who has also written the dialogues for the movie has done his best while Niwas’ and Jahnavi too have succeeded in making their presence felt. 

Even though the director has succeeded in raising your blood pressures at times, you might love to watch the ending, a suspense. 
While Director Ramesh P C has made a debut through Colours, Mandya Ramesh has made his debut as lead actor. A few foot tapping numbers is an added attraction.
Ronnie

Tiladaanam (Telugu)
Cast: H G Dattatreya, Jayasheel, Brahmaji
Director: K N T Sastry

Deriving the name from a ritual that signifies the giving of sesame seeds as alms to ward off the evil influences of Shani, the film tackles many issues of relevance like the never-ending tussle between traditionalists and revolutionaries, and the importance of money in the consumerist world of today. Handled adeptly, the film throws up many queries that fail to find an answer, reflecting the complexities of life as a whole.

Poverty drives learned pundit Subbaiah Sastry (H G Dattatreya) to accept Tiladaanam. The result: he is considered an outcast and lives on the meagre income his corpse-carrying and Tiladaanam fetches him. To add to his miseries, his son Raghuram (Brahmaji), deeply influenced by Socialist ideas, defies traditions and turns into a revolutionary. In the meanwhile his daughter-in-law Padma gives birth to a son who, according to Subbaiah, is born in an inauspicious star which could lead to the death of Raghuram unless a ‘Navagraha Shanti’ is performed.

But, unfortunately for him, no Brahmin comes forward to perform it, even as he knocks on each and every door of the Brahmin community. Some of them even advise him to forget about the ceremony as Raghuram “will anyway die in a police encounter very soon”. A hurt Subbaiah Sastry decides to perform the ceremony on his own. Blissfully unaware of all these developments, Raghuram, wanted dead or alive by the police, decides to surrender through his friend so that his family can lead a comfortable life with the award money on his head. But his friend betrays... So does Subbaiah... leaving Padma with a small baby all alone in the cruel world. Powerful theme, taut screenplay, supported by splendid performance by all the actors concerned, makes the film a memorable one. H G Dattatreya deserves a special mention for his brilliant portrayal of the wronged pundit, around whom the film revolves. Tiladaanam is a film that tugs at your heart strings, striking the right chord at the right time.

(This film was screened as part of the week-long Suchitra International Film Festival which began in the City on Friday.) 
Chethana Dinesh

Popcorn (Tamil)
(Naga, Cauvery)
Cast: Mohan Lal, Simran, Vivek
Director: Nasser
A daughter uniting her separated parents is nothing new in Indian cinema. Music being the unifying factor is also a familiar factor. Nasser has two powerful performers--Mohan Lal and Simran And, he tries serve this popcorn with a musical backdrop. Though the lead pair have done extremely well, music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is too pedastrian and this affects the movie. 
Simran who becomes the mother of Mohan Lal’s child even before they get married, moves away from her husband due to an inflated ego. She feels her dance should get priority over husband and family. Her ego is so big that she makes him promise after their wedding that he will give up singing iuntil their child is born. Due to a communication gap, she feels he has spoilt her chance to participate in an international dance show, and begins to hate him though Lal tries to explain, a furious Simran walks out.
While Simran becomes a famous dance teacher and takes up the cause of women’s freedom, Lal withdraws into a shell, drinks heavily and owns a petrol bunk. Vivek and co who are to participate in a music competition, trace him out and seek his help to win the competition.
As the movie reaches its climax, one expects a storm before the storm., Simran and Lal do meet after many years but there are no firewiorks and one gets the feeling of eating a stale popcorn. Nasser , who moves the story mainly on the powerful performance by the lead pair , gets stuck in the climax and without much help form the music composer, takes it to a messy ending. 
GU 

Kadhaludan (Tamil)
(Lavanya, Lakshmi)
Cast: Murali, Devayani, Abbas, Ramesh Kanna
Director: Rajakumaran
This triangular love story enunciating the virtues of romance and marriage is a slow fare. The narration begins smoothly in the beginning and then, at times, wavers when the director takes upon the topic of communal amity and lectures against dowry. 
This film is the first production venture of film couple Rajakumaran and Devyani.
The movie opens with Kalyan (Murali), a magician by profession, geting a a marriage proposal from a broker. 
Kalyan's mother wants him to marry the girl but Kalyan has other ideas about marriage and feels some of the formalities could hurt the sentiments of the girl. 
After due persuasion from his friend (Ramesh Khanna), he decides to go to the village and find out more about his bride to be (Kavitha).
Both the friends are secretive about their identity and try to gather details about Kavitha. In the end when all seems to go well, the director brings in an element of suspense by introducing a character Abbas. Kavitha is engaged to Abbas and is eagerly awaiting his arrival from Mumbai as he has promised his father, who is against the marriage, that he will bring in the dowry and then get married to his lady love.
Then, Kalyan tries to unite the lovers and it is anyone's guess what happens in the end. The lead characters have essayed their roles well. 
Murali as Kalyan willing to make any sacrifice for the girl he loved; Abbas as her love, determined to marry Kavita despite parental opposition and Devayani as the rural belle pining for her lover.
The screenplay is hampered mainly by lengthy, meandering dialogues that proves tiresome. Music by S A Rajkumar is pretty ordinary. Barring the number Pookalin Kaathinil by Kartik and Sujata, others fail to induce any interest.
C Shivakumar

Yatrakkarude Shraddekku (Malayalam)
(Sangeet)
Cast: Jairam, Soundarya, Innocent, Srinivasan, Nedumudi Venu
Director: Sathyan Anthikkad
The film explores the relationship that develops between two friends of the opposite sex living together for sometime and then parting ways to lead separate lives. In the Indian milieu, these things just don’t happen, seems to be the director’s conclusion what with the live-in duo finally marrying each other. 
When Jyothi (Soundarya) moves into Ram’s (Jairam) house after being evicted by her landlord, they live like good friends. 
To shut up nosy neighbours they spread the lie that they are husband and wife. Ram’s initial hiccup at having Jyothi share his house gives way to a feeling much deeper. 
For Jyothi, however, Ram is a friend and no more. When Jyothi leaves the city to get married, Ram is heartbroken. Just before her marriage is solemnised, a drunken friend’s revelation of her live-in days, stops the wedding. 
To save face, Jyothi and Ram get married but Jyothi’s attitude towards Ram undergoes a sea-change. She blames him for her public humiliation, for her father’s heart attack and wrecked marriage. 
They begin to live as enemies in the same house they had once shared as friends. But the film, advertised as a comedy, cannot end on a sour note and the final twist in the tale, though expected, comes at a time when Ram has given up on Jyothi ever loving him.
A new theme, good performances, Srinivasan’s and Innocent’s comic interludes and some good music keep the audience engaged throughout the film.
Veena Pradeep