Review: 'Paddehuli' ruins original taste

Film: Paddehuli

Rating: 2/5

Language: Kannada (U/A)

Cast: Shreyas Manju, Nishvika Naidu, V Ravichandran, Sudharani

Director: Guru Deshpande

Paddehuli, which is a remake of the Tamil film Meesaya Murukku, justifies the charge that sandalwood filmmakers ruin the originals while remaking them.

Director Guru Deshpande's attempt to launch ace producer K Manju's son Shreyas goes haywire as the flick miserably fails in every department.

Deshpande, who had directed superhit film Raja Huli, lets down the audience as he fails in effective handling of musical romance.

Paddehuli is the story of an engineering graduate's sacrifice of his love for the sake of music. Deshpande spends two hours and forty minutes to narrate this bare minimum.

He stuffs the film with ill-timed songs, fights, unfunny comedy scenes and allusions to the late Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh that are irrelevant to the story.

The plot lacks an edgy, new-age subject and a realistic treatment.

The narrative is extremely slow and will try the audience's patience.

Out of 10 songs, those penned by G P Rajarathnam (Yenda Yendati), D V Gundappa (Baduku Jatakabandi), K S Narasimhaswamy (Ninna Premada Pariya), B R Lakshman Rao (Heli Hogu Kaarana) and Basavanna (Kalabeda Kolabeda) are touching, while the remaining five are buried in the sound of instruments.

Ajneesh Loknath, who had composed music for popular flicks such as Rangitaranga, Ulidavaru Kandante, Kirik Party and Bell Bottom, looses his mojo with the hip-hop beats.

Ravichandran and Sudharani, who share the screen after 26 years (they had last paired up for Manedevru) in the role of protagonist's parents have done a decent job.

Nishvika Naidu impresses with her performance. Shreyas Manju's performance is below average, be it dialogue delivery or expressions. However, he excels in action.

Chandrashekar's cinematography is average. There is nothing much to mention about K M Prakash's editing.

Even guest appearances by Rakshit Shetty, Puneeth Rajkumar, K Manju and Yogaraj Bhat fail to elevate the flick.