JOIN USChitramandiradalli
Kannada (U) ¬¬¬
Cast: Shankar Aryan, Namitha and others
Director: V Chala
Ullas dreams of converting his scripts into celluloid classics. Which is not palatable to his father who subjects his son to public censure as often as possible. Soon, things come to a head and Ullas finally undergoes a medical checkup by his friend. Predictably, he’s diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and has just two days to live!
It’s time for clearing the stock of misunderstanding and hurt between parents and son, who goes to theatres, simply to watch his scripts being enacted on his mind’s screen.
Then, the doctor describes his friend’s dying moments before the parents...
Chitramandiradalli has its moments. It is Shankar Aryan’s all the way.
As the tormented Ullas and the naive but tough Baira or the struggling artiste later on, he gets under the skin of each character with practised ease; his mannerisms and attention to detail are laudable. Silli Lalli NML Namitha matches Shankar with her effervescence. Krishna Adiga, Aruna Balaraj, Gururaj Hoskote, Mimicry Gopi and others infuse life into their short roles. The late Karibasavaiah does a negative turn for a change.
Overall, it is a compact story, revolving around tinsel dreams. Yet, there are quite a few shortcomings. By interval, barring a few frames in which Shankar Aryan shows his exemplary acting skills, the audience is restless or in a stupor.
V Chala goes about depicting the story in an excruciatingly slow manner. Budget constraints don’t help either. The film doesn’t have the glossy look that people have come to expect and poor lighting spoils the effect. Background music by Gopi is way too loud and unnecessary in places.
Most of the actors are from television. Most of them are strong performers. Most of them have also peeped from the big screen. It is this experience that stands them in good stead, for the film runs the risk of becoming one of the many episodes of any mega-serial, in places.
It’s now the season of experimentation, infusing fresh thought etc in Gandhinagar. After rows and rows of actioners, thrillers, romances, dramas and what-nots, come films that choose to call themselves experiments. Chitramandiradalli can be called a bold movie, mainly because it is hampered by limited resources.