A fresh look at how love is blind

Film: Krishna Tulasi

Rating: ***** (Excellent)

Lang: Kannada (U)

Cast: Sanchari Vijay, Meghashree, Ramesh Bhat, Padmaja Rao, Tabla Nani, Kuri Pratap, Sangeetha, Shridhar

Director: Sukesh Nayak

Bravo! Debutant director Sukesh Nayak, seasoned actor Sanchari Vijay and magnetic Meghashree make your day with Krishna Tulasi.

When trashy films are released, week after week, in the garb of entertainment, Krishna Tulasi comes as a welcome breeze of fresh air.

Love is blind. Depicting this truism metaphorically as well as literally, Sukesh Nayak scripts a scintillating saga, reminding you of yesteryear hits such as Sanjay Khan’s Dosti, Sanjeev Kumar's Koshish, and Naseeruddin Shah's Sparsh.

Employing familiar tropes of the commercial genre and keeping the suspense till the very end, Krishna Tulasi reinforces the belief that young film-makers can come up with surprises and not all is lost for aesthetic cinema.

Succinctly capturing the anxieties and aspirations of the visually challenged, Sukesh Nayak provides a deeply observed character study. What makes Krishna Tulasi, despite all its faults (he could have eschewed the initial comic interludes) an evocative and engaging film is that his characters are so true to life.

In fact, Krishna Tulasi is Meghashree's film. She portrays a blind Tulasi, investing the character with all the nuances it deserves.

In fact, she outshines Sanchari Vijay. Not to take away from his performance, but while he gives the impression that he is emoting, Meghashree comes across as a natural.

As Tulasi, a dubbing artiste, she is a fluttering butterfly smitten by the adulation of Krishna, a blind tourist guide-turned-museum curator. How romance blossoms between two is brought out with a neat and taut script.

Further embellishing the experience are the superlative performances of the versatile Ramesh Bhat and Tabla Nani, with Padmaja Rao chipping in as the concerned mother of a blind young man.

Krishna Tulasi would have been poorer but for the evocative and enchanting music score by Kiran Ravindranath. The songs, written by Yogaraj Bhat, Jayant Kaikini and Dhananjaya, are soulful and pleasing.

The film provides a kaleidoscopic tour of Mysuru with cinematographer Naveen using a drone camera and capturing the city in all its vibrancy.

Indeed, Krishna Tulasi is a film that is bound to bag a bushel of awards. Krishna Tulasi is truly a family entertainer and is not to be missed. This outing will be an experience of a lifetime. What a love saga!