Love can swing any way

The teary-eyed girl is waiting to board a train along with relatives while a youth, face suitably smashed, is let off by the police along the rail tracks. Goons chase him and just as
the train crosses a bridge, he is thrown into the water.

This film is one of the variants film makers find in a love story. Rich, scheming girl seducing poor but brilliant boy to outshine him, her brothers bashing the hapless boy and then trying to get him killed...There’s a freshness to this rotten line.

It maybe because of the locations that are not yet sanitised of film consciousness. Or the dialogues that are not routinely vulgar. Or the screenplay that refuses to be distracted.
Or it might be effortless acting by people like Muni, Ravi Kale, Rangayana Raghu and most important, the film’s lead, Gowri Shankar.

While the former bring back fond memories of potboilers of the 80s and even early 90s, the latter is indeed a fresh and promising find.

For the most part, his ex-pressions do not belie his inexperience. His confidence more than makes up for the patchy show by Malayali actress Udayatara.

Her lamp-like eyes blind the audience to everything else about her, including acting!
Still, the pair looks good and are supported by the standard components of fights, dances and dialogue-baazi. S A Rajkumar’s music doesn’t raise above the bar. Ditto Venus Murthy’s camera.

But, when the film is one summer stroll, the villain is inevitably the climax. After a mast fight, Udayatara gets to beam her eyes again and the film turns into a farce.  Still, “Jokali” is a pleasurable pastime.