Credit: Special Arrangement
Simple Suni, in his latest offering, ‘Gatha Vaibhava’, goes a little overboard to create an elaborate spread, and falters on many levels.
The movie begins with Adhunika’s (played by Ashika Ranganath) relentless search for a man she imagined in her painting. The man is the film’s male protagonist Purathan (Dushyanth Servegara Srinivas). He goes to meet her and she tells him about how the two were lovers in a previous birth, or should I say births? The movie then takes us on a trip down memory lane where we see three past lives — their unrequited love in their first life set during the time of Samudhra Manthana (Ocean Churning) from Hindu mythology forces them to take birth again and again until they reunite for eternity.
One of the stories in ‘Gatha Vaibhava’ — the one featuring Mangala and Srinivas — is proof of why Suni must stick to simple love stories. Although predictable and a bit old fashioned, the particular story carries more weight than the rest of the film. It reminds you of the good old love stories when lovers eagerly waited for letters from their loved ones. Heartwarming.
A whole sequence featuring a Portuguese man’s quest to find a sea route to India seemed so unnecessary that it will make you roll your eyes, each time they come up with something that they think is funny. And whoever created the sets of the Devaloka!
Ashika delivers a convincing performance. And Dushyanth made sure ‘subtlety’ went on a long vacation.