2022 is here & the first major release of the year have hit the screens yday. The much awaited project happens to be none other Vineeth Sreenivasan's "Hridayam" which is bankrolled by Visakh Subramaniam of the iconic Merryland Cinemas which is making a return into production after almost four decades. Even as Kerala decided to enforce lockdown for a fortnight on Sundays, the duo decided to go ahead with the release. Luckily for many of us in Bangalore, the timing of the release couldn't have been better as the Karnataka Govt decided to withdraw the weekend curfew from today. With almost 15 tracks, Hesham Abdul Wahab's music headlined by 'Darshana' have already been a chartbuster & that expectedly added fuel to the hype. There is no denying that the music endeared to the heart but did the movie do the same???
The movie chronicles the journey of Arun Neelakandan (Pranav Mohanlal) from his college days to fatherhood and the events that molded him into the person that he eventually became. The first half touches upon romance, breakup, reckless attitude, realization etc., while the latter part is about finding his passion and married life. In terms of the storyline, Vineeth does not offer anything new as you would have seen glimpses of it in "Silunu Oru Kathal", "June" or "Vaaranam Aayiram" to name a few but the manner in which he has drafted the screenplay is what that made it so appealing.
There are numerus sequences that many would be able to relate to & this nostalgic feel is what the maverick Vineeth has tapped into with success. The primary reason why this thought process worked out so well is because of Hesham's music and that too of various genres that gels well with the proceedings and elevates the viewing experience. Surely a career that is destined to go places if he churns out similar tracks in the future. The multi talented Vineeth's ability to extract the desired emotions and performances from his cast showcases command over his craft. Kudos also goes to the DoP Vishwajith Odukkathil as there were many exquisite frames as well as Ranjan Abraham, as it is not so often that majority of the people sit through a 3 h movie without their patience being tested.
On the performance front, all have done justice to their roles but the pick among the lot was undoubtedly Darshana who was brilliant in showcasing the various emotions that her character goes through. Pranav finally got a role or rather a director who knew how to make optimum use of his talent and he was spot on in the first half while subsequently, though ok he wasn't able to convincingly convey the maturity of his character. Kalyani had a comparatively limited screen space and did a decent job though it reminded of her role in "Varane Avashyamunde" at times. Another person that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath is Ashwath Lal who was impressive while the rest of the cast such as Kalesh (as Selva, his track will certainly moving), Aju Varghese, Johny Antony, Vijay Raghavan, Arun Kurien etc have done their parts aptly.
Verdict: Is it Vineeth's best work to date? the answer to that might vary from person to person as it is "Thira" for me. But this has to be arguably his most endearing work as it manages to elevate a familiar plot and made it engaging and entertaining. Though marketed as Pranav's movie for obvious reasons, it is as much about Darshana as him and the cast and crew were able to live upto the hype according to me. In short, dont miss it!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
Regards...Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment