'Ee Bhoomi Aa Bhanu' movie review: Deep love can be debilitating, too

Ee Bhoomi Aa Bhanu
Kannada (U)                           
Director: K C Venugopal
Cast: Ajith, Sharanya Mohan, Sangeetha, Sharan

True to the director’s proclamation, Ee Bhoomi Aa Bhanu presents a different facet of love. A love that is oxygen-pure - overwhelming and too big to handle.

The team intends to send out the right message for hapless women that all is not lost and that there is life beyond loss and despair. In the process, they tread a few times upon a sensitive issue, which conveniently gets overlooked.

The love story has a refreshing beginning which becomes a boring tear-fest before turning into a powerful message vehicle, the last mainly possible because of heroine Sharanya’s histrionics.

The story-writer has also been inspired by Irish author Ahern’s P.S. I Love You but takes the story beyond the book on love, loss, despair, fun and healing, among other things.

A very good import from Karnataka’s Down Under (Kerala), Sharanya’s acting props up a tottering script. Blessed with a cute face that can also project sensuality and maturity and a fine pair of eyes, Sharanya very soon makes the role of Bhoomi all her own. Giving her good support is Sangeetha as her mother, who perhaps for the first time in recent months, is given the freedom so essential for a nuanced performance. Her contradictory words while reacting to her daughter’s plight mirror many women in similar situation.
Ajith has grown both physically as well as intellectually. To the director’s credit, Ajith’s presence is not stereotyped. Kudos to dialogue writer Mallikarjun as well.

P Rajan’s camera sometimes loses the edge when going too close to the actors’ faces but makes a neat job of showcasing the locations, particularly of the songs.

S Premkumar’s numbers are melodious with a marked liking for the guitar and
flute. Sharan, Mitra and others are adequate in their job. But Ee Bhoomi... suffers from pace or rather the lack of it.  In getting the emotions just right, the director sacrifices pace so much so that there is a risk of the emotions getting transferred on to the viewer! The last bit of the climax seems a bit unconvincing.

Ee Bhoomi Ee Bhanu, however, provides a viewer who’s sensitive to ills plaguing society, a workable solution. But what about patience?