×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

'Made in Bengaluru' review: A pretentious portrayal of Bengaluru's spirit

The film ends up as yet another ‘good attempt’ with no significant takeaways
Last Updated 31 December 2022, 11:31 IST

Made in Bengaluru

Kannada (Theatres)

Director: Pradeep Sastry

Cast: Madhusudan Govind, Sai Kumar, Anant Nag, Himanshi Varma,
Prakash Belawadi

Rating: 2.5/5

Ad man Pradeep Sastry’s debut feature ‘Made In Bengaluru’ with an all-newcomers team hits the screens on the back of an innovative marketing campaign with glossy posters and a soothing soundtrack. The film, in its potboiler fashion, promises to be a celebration of the spirit of Bengaluru and its constituents, but while on the verge of achieving it goes entirely haywire midway through, ending up as yet another ‘good attempt’ with no significant takeaways.

The 170-minutes-long film starts out as the aspirational story of three middle-class friends’ taxing journey to establish a startup to sell organic vegetables. Notwithstanding the slow pace of the film, the comedy sequences with good punches, engaging performances of new faces such as Madhusudan Govind, Puneet Manja, Shankar Murthy and others make up for a decent first half. Prakash Belawadi’s delightful cameo, though doesn’t add anything substantial to the crux of the story, stands out for its comic relief. A particular scene where the ever-enraged ‘uncle’ (Belawadi) trashing the young entrepreneurs’ work steals the show.

When all hell breaks loose for the protagonist in the interval block twist, the same happens to the film as well, from where it runs erratic. The focus shifts entirely from three friends to one and becomes his personal story of love, betrayal, crime and eventual redemption. The character arcs of Govind, Anant Nag and the conflict of the story seems very contrived.

The film’s two halves feel like belonging to two different films. The undercooked writing makes not even one element in the latter half remotely buyable. It also does not go beyond the usual cliches such as mild homophobic humour, a ‘cheat’ woman, a caricaturish ‘Keralite’ character and a romanticised ‘mother’ character limited to cooking delicious food.

The film should be credited for giving the industry new promising talents. Madhusudan Govind as the main protagonist fits the role of a young dreamer turned entrepreneur, but unfortunately could not save the film’s fall in the second half. Seasoned actors such as Anant Nag, Saikumar, Sudha Belawadi, Prakash Belawadi have given due justice to their respective characters.

The film’s slapstick comedy sequences work to a certain extent and start to annoy after a point. Bajarang Konatham’s camera work succeeds in rightly setting the film's mood and tone with colourful frames and well shot sequences. The film’s soundtrack by Ashwin P Kumar has some really good numbers, but they are good only to listen to separately. The background score is ubiquitous, overwhelming and self-defeating.

'Made in Bengaluru' certainly possesses a refreshing premise, a genuine intent to make something new, and the smartness to pull off a ‘rich-looking’ film with all budgetary constraints. But its incoherent and inconsistent writing, and its sanitised and romanticised world of Bengaluru where the camera hardly explores the ‘real’ Bengaluru, neither makes it grounded nor takes the viewer on a cinematic ‘suspension of disbelief’ journey.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 30 December 2022, 18:30 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT