Rating: 3/5
Banner: RK Productions
Cast: Dhanush, Shruthi Hasan, Prabhu, Rohini, Bhanupriya
Music: Anirudh
Cinematography: Vel Raja
Editing: Kola Bhaskar
Producer: Dhanush, Natti Kumar
Story, Direction: Aishwarya R Dhanush
Release Date: Mar 30 2012
'Kolaveri Di' is the song that turned very popular world wide that made this '3' a very big film even in national circuit although released only in Telugu and Tamil. Obviously the film attracted many crowds bringing huge openings. Let us see how far this film reached the expectations.
Story:
Ram (Dhanush), an intermediate student falls in love with a school girl (Shruthi Hasan) studying in other school. She too gets attracted to him. Their love lasts longer for many years and eventually they get married when they become majors. But Ram experiences a weird change in his body and finally gets diagnosed with 'bipolar disorder', a psychological disease. He behaves strangely due to that disorder.
Finally what sort of decision he takes to make his wife not become prey of his illness? That forms the rest of story.
Performances:
Telugu audiences have patronized many Tamil heroes but so far none got a chance to appreciate Dhanush's performance. In fact he is the national award winner in Tamil cinema. '3' showcases the impeccable talent of Dhanush who excelled in every small detail of performance. He deserves high commendations for portraying the roles of a school boy, a matured guy and a married man. He proves to be a text book for performance in this film.
Shruthi Hasan gave her best in this film. Although not a perfect match to the standard of her father, she got the ability to stand as a good actress on Indian screen. Despite no experience she handled a very challenging role successfully.
Other artistes are just ok. Prabhu, Rohini and Bhanupriya are ok while the actor who played hero's friend did fantastic.
Highlights:
- First Half
- Background Score
- Cinematography
Drawbacks:
- Overdose of melodrama in second half
- Slow narration
Analysis:
It is not an easy task to mix two genres in single film. But Aishwarya could do it with her skill. That resulted in making the film an off beat one which deserves to go for film festivals and award nominations.
First half entertains the common audience very well with tight story and crisp narration. Especially the youngsters get carried away with that easily. But second half brings some tension for the same audience if they are not used to the dark emotions on big screen.
Aishwarya did some mistakes like getting the couple married in a pub against the wish of parents. Such scenes bring repugnance from audience due to mismatch of intensity. Adding to this, hero gets the bipolar disorder all of a sudden without any indication before. There were no planting scenes before that, giving a hint to audience that some suspense is going to be revealed. When the film is shifting its phase from entertainer to a serious one, some strong scenes have to be placed. But that didn’t happen. The sudden change of genre is fatal for this film as it loses some audiences.
Screenplay has bitten mud for this film especially in the case of shifting the genre. Director has complicated the issue with back and forth narration. Had she chosen the straight narration technique, the screenplay issues might not have come.
Coming to the technical aspects, Anirudh's music and background score stand as highlight for the film. Vel Raja's cinematography deserves a mention. Editing is crisp but the script has seen some flaws.
Coming to the most interesting 'Kolaveri Di' song, it's not pictured well on screen. So, all the over hype that was brought by Kolaveri song failed to match with the expectations on screen.
This film is not for regular audience. Those who like experiments and variety can relish this. Commercial result of this film cannot be judged due to contrast in expectations and content.
Bottom Line: Three Cheers to first half
Reviewed by Greatandhra Team
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
