‘Nimma Vasthugalige Neeve Javaabdaararu’ movie review | Stainless steal: Winsome stories of guileless thieves

Keshav Moorthy’s debut film Nimma Vasthugalige Neeve Javaabdaararu (you are responsible for your belongings) is a quirky take on thievery.

Three stories come together in this Kannada anthology drama that presents a fresh perspective on why people indulge in one of the most common crimes, stealing. Each of them have their own reasons.

Inaayat (Prasanna Shetty) is diagnosed with OCD — ‘intrusive OCD’, a doctor clarifies. He is a peculiar character, given to arranging the footwear of random people at random places. He steals bikes that are the same model as his. Is it for convenience’s sake or is it because of his OCD? What forces him to steal? The director constructs interesting incidents to explain the situation, which can leave the audience giggling.

The second narrative is a cute rom-com. Rohit (Madhusudhan Govind) is a kleptomaniac. While trying to steal from a market stall, he meets Rathna (Apoorva Bharadwaj) who is also a kleptomaniac. The two join forces and end up falling in love. Eventually, they take their operations up a notch and go on crazy adventures.

The third story is intense and gripping. Albert (Dileep Raj) runs a syndicate of four people. They plan to rob from corrupt politicians and government officers. In an intriguing turn of events, their plan to target one such person backfires. However, the motives of either of the parties is not established.

Three different parts of Bengaluru come alive on screen — its underbelly, its affluence and its quaint neighbourhoods. However, the depiction of mental health disorders may not be accurate. It feels exaggerated to add to the drama. Nevertheless, the film is quite enjoyable thanks to good performances and an absurdly funny narrative.

I was also amused to see the thieves in each narrative belonging to different religious groups. Representation, I assume!

Dileep Raj delivers a compelling and measured performance. It is a shame that there is a dearth of interesting narratives for such a talent in the industry. Apoorva who was impressive in her first directorial (‘Sumoha’ in ‘BTS – Behind the Scenes’) recently, further impresses with her performance in ‘Nimma Vasthugalige…’. Madhusudhan, Prasanna, Shilpa Manjunath (as Jennifer) and Hari Samashti (as Sanketh) all add charm to the narrative.

Combined with Harsha Kumar Gowda’s cinematography and Prasad K Shetty’s music, Nimma Vasthugalige Neeve Javaabdaararu looks like a good start to 2025.

(The movie is currently running in theatres)