Going mad over love

Half Mentlu
Kannada (A), Cast: Sandeepa, Sonu Gowda, Achyut Kumar, Tabla Nani
Director: Lakshmi Dinesh

The title literally says it all. The madness of the enterprise by debutant director Lakshmi Dinesh. Inspired by a true incident in his life, Dinesh has sought to make capital out of it in Half Mentlu. However, Dinesh makes mindless mish-mash that leaves sour taste in the viewer than sweet entertainer.

In trying to explore myriad emotions of falling in love, ecstasy that engulfs one when cupid strikes, director Dinesh turns his protagonist Shiva, a man of street, into psychological wreck, to provide his own take on romance and friendship.

He has conveniently fallen trap to chauvinist convention that when a besotted beau pursues and persistently stalks his paramour, in this case, Madhu, she would reciprocate. Having bumped into Madhu and procuring her photographer, Shiva is in seventh heaven that she is the girl made for him.

Without conveying his feelings directly Shiva moons over his mushy feelings for her through dialogues and situations picturized through songs aplenty. Does Madhu melt or slaps sense into Shiva? Is Shiva’s one-side romance doomed for tragic consequences, forms pivot of Half Mentlu, which has nothing worth to extol filled with double meaning dialogues. A sheer patience teaser.