Surya Prakhyath plays a student-turned-criminal in the film.
Daali Dhananjaya’s fifth film as producer, J C University, tries to show the downside of the police system, but the film gets trapped in yester-year rowdy-drama cliches.
J C University, short for Judicial Custody University, runs on the philosophy that the jail is a university, a place of learning. The movie opens with the murder of a notorious rowdy. The first half traces who killed him and the second half is a predictable chase between two rival gangs. Unlike most gangster films that place individual stories against a broader social canvas, ‘J C University’ remains confined to the protagonist’s personal journey till the end.
Madhu alias Maddy (played by Surya Prakhyath), a college student, gets entangled with local rowdies and enters a deadly gang war. He soon becomes the most wanted criminal in town. Running parallel to this is the story of his family, friends and girlfriend who are trying to pull him back into the right path. Inspired by several movies, his father (Rangayana Raghu) succeeds in reforming him, towards the end of the movie. But why should the audience be moved by his story? For one, the narrative is largely driven by Madhu’s ego and thirst for revenge. Two, it is barely socially relevant, and three, it is not emotionally relatable.
When the protagonist is a gangster, there needs to be a compelling reason for the audience to root for him. Take ‘The Godfather’, for instance. Movies like ‘Jogi’ work because they are rooted in emotions and tell a larger story about society. Madesha falls into such circumstances because he has no other choice. Madhu’s journey in ‘J C University’ is erratic and unconvincing.
Then there are the dialogues! The entire film relies heavily on loud, massy one-liners, so ridiculous that they provoke unintentional laughter. In the movie, the hero tells the villain, ‘Eetara dialogue keli keli bejar aagogide sir’, which translates to, ‘I’m tired of such dialogues, sir’. The feeling was mutual. It gets exhausting!
Prakhyat has a great screen presence but still has a long way to go in terms of acting. Rangayana Raghu may be a great actor but his melodrama in this one is unbearable. Technically, the film is great but it does not translate into anything.
(The movie is currently running in theatres)