JOIN USMadarangi
Kannada (U/A) ¬¬¬¬
Director: Mallikarjun
Muthalageri
Cast: Krishna, Sushma Raj, Naksha Shetty
Youths living on the edge, exposed to harsh realities of life fall in love with girls isolated from real world by their super-rich daddys, or vice-versa. Daddys, or in some cases, mommys either object, devise strategies to wean their offspring away from “bad influence” and preserve family honour, or sometimes wholeheartedly accept the addition to their families and hearts.
The whole situation offers manoeuvring room for film makers to exploit and the director who made a decent debut with a forgettable “Auto” a few years ago chooses to do so with subtlety and plenty of emotion, bringing slight tension into the drama.
That the main characters are inexperienced yet confident works out to his advantage and pretty ordinary situations get a beautiful makeover with plenty of emotions appropriately infusing colour.
So “Madarangi” displays different strands of colour – be it the elder daughter of a businessman who fails to express her love towards her graduate driver, her younger sister who’s unafraid of meeting rejection headlong, the brash but responsible driver who has his own ambitions while helping his foolish and foolhardy friends on the wrong side of law, a helpless and frustrated mother, a man out to avenge a wrong with his world remaining intact or even a “halli mukka” harassing a city guy practically for no reason, to be woven into a multi-hued tapestry that depicts a part of life.
Breathing life into this palette are Sushma Raj, Sharath Lohitashwa, Avinash, Vinaya Prakash, Krishna and Suchendra Prasad among others.
“Madarangi” is Sushma’s second outing as a heroine while Naksha Shetty debuts with her “Darling Darling” number digging retro looks and sounds pretty well. Indeed, the compliment goes largely to Anoop Seelin, whose tunes are melodious and vibrant - a very pleasant buy. Girish’s camerawork is adequate. Crazy Mindz’ work exhibits method in madness as always. Different Danny’s action sequences are good. The director’s dialogues do not descend into over dramatic, vulgar cacophony.
Sushma needs to work on her hesitant dialogue delivery. As for Krishna, he manages to hold his own but a smug smile or a fixed grimace won’t carry the day for long. This “Madarangi” is a fragrant reminder of life’s simple, and sometimes savage, pleasures.