Mr Bachelor
Kannada (Theatres)
Director: Naidu Bandaaru
Cast: Darling Krishna, Milana Nagaraj, Chikkanna, Nimika Ratnakar
Rating: 2/5
Where do I begin? Should I start with my complaint about how silly Mr Bachelor is? It begins with the protagonist as a child, desperate to get married. We have heard stories about children having big ambitions but Karthik (Darling Krishna) believes the secret to lifelong happiness is getting married.
The film’s inane nature extends when Karthik, after growing up to be a software professional, finds it hard to find a woman to marry due to a plethora of silly reasons. If that isn’t enough, a priest warns him that he has to marry the 31st woman he meets. Otherwise, he is sure to remain a bachelor.
When does the script feel clueless? It’s when Karthik meets the 31st girl, Pallavi (Milana Nagaraj) and she puts a condition that he has to lose his virginity to another woman for her to accept him. Why? Because she prefers an ‘experienced’ man. What about compatibility before marriage? Let’s not bother finding common sense in this film.
Why am I be deeply frustrated? Because many of our filmmakers write without keeping women in mind. Note of request to them: Do not make films that make women squirm in their seats and curse under their breath. Mr Bachelor shows women as gold diggers and is unabashed in objectifying them. During his attempts to achieve his ‘task’ to get married, Karthik encounters another Pallavi (played by Nimika Ratnakar) and falls in love with her.
Who does the hero marry? More than finding a solid solution to this weakly-written conflict, director Naidu Bandaaru is interested in garnering laughs from the audience with insensitive jokes about sex workers and homosexuals.
How does the film enter the ‘It’s so bad that it’s so good’ zone? It’s when it glorifies the male saviour complex by introducing a human trafficking angle out of nowhere. In the end, the film takes a U-turn and offers a lesson to women after doing the damage of being insensitive to them.
What’s the takeaway from Mr Bachelor? That it’s not easy to crack the adult comedy genre if the writing is terribly ordinary. The film appears like a messy market with low-hanging fruits. That’s why bankable comedians like Giri Shivanna and Chikkanna feel wasted here.
Darling Krishna appears natural in romantic comedies but he soon needs to find the right scripts.
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