Cleansing educational edifices

Vascodigama
Kannada (U/A)
Cast: Kishore Kumar, Parvathy Nair, Ashwin Vijay Kumar, Suchendra Prasad, Ajisha Shah  
Director: Madhuchandra
Rating: Above Average

There is no high sea adventure here. Nor the famed Portuguese explorer. Madhuchandra’s Vascodigama aka Vasu D Gammanahalli is a raffish Kannada language teacher at Gnanavikas College.

Silly and sloppy, the film — inspired by Abdul Kalam and Jiddu Krishnamurthi — is an over-the-top, high octane journey. It speaks about how bad our education system is.
Making a clarion call to cleanse the archaic edifices and to make syllabus and teaching more meaningful is what director Madhuchandra attempts in Vascodigama. In trying to achieve his utopian ideal, Madhuchandra lets loose madness which makes for a fun watch if one leaves sense and sensibilities back home.

Providing Kishore a screen makeover, in the company of petite Parvathy Nair as Shanti, Madhuchandra’s campus caper is made for masses. Given the young crowd, the film is a right-in-the-face shocker about themselves as also the stifling education system.

Opulently excessive and without insight, Vascodigama is one big flight of fantasy. Like it or dump it.