Bangalore Days Review

After a casting coup that raised the expectations to no bar, Anjali Menon's 'Bangalore Days' certainly did what it was expected to be. An elegantly composed flick, the movie loaded with plenty of emotional intensity and beautiful scenes is definitely a piece of cake that you will find hard to resist. Undoubtedly a fine commercial winner too, `Bangalore days' is sure to help you leave the screening centres with delight and happiness for the way it is narrated and for the careful observations of kerala society, thus giving another film for new generation movie lovers to cherish.

The movie opens with the presentation of three kids , Kuttan(Nivin Pauly), Arjun (Dulquer Salman), and Divya (Nazriya Nazim), who had a dream of blasting out at Bangalore at some point of their lives. And while at adulthood they reach the same city for different reasons-Kuttan as a homesick software techie, Divya as a housewife with her soft-spoken husband Das(Fahad Fazil) and Arjun as a graffiti artist who is also into bike racing. While  Das is still to get over his past and its relations, Divya finds it suffocating to remain docile, inside the four walls of the city flats. And when her husband, a high flying corporate executive is out to distant countries for work, Divya calls for her cousins with whom she tries to reinvent an adventurous life.

Anjali Menon, like her previous ventures, skilfully mixes the annotations with perceptive characters whose backgrounds are clearly defined. So we have Kuttan whose notion about his future wife is typical of every malayali youths and an Arjun, a school dropout who dreams of making it all by himself, though his divorced parents can earn him a fortune. Even while defining the alienation and fascinations of the newer generations, there are plenty of subtexts like that of Kuttan's parents(Kalpana and Vijayaraghavan)  that  works clearly well for the movie. All these are integrated into the city life with the greatest hussle-bussle, where no one has time to pop into other's lives. Some of the hilarious moments like the marriage scenes and the love tale of Kuttan will stay afresh for long.

It could have been an uphill task for the mentors to create a tale to satisfy the big young stars in the lead, but Anjali Menon also scores well by providing a different story for each and concluding them in the best of the manners.  Add to that the believability that she brings on each of these tales, even while tearing off the impact of provided cultural shocks in the subtle manner. Of the varied tales on screen, that of  Arjun and his love Sarah (Parvathy Menon), a physically disabled RJ, impresses you with its loads of emotions. Fahad as usual scores well as the strict husband who resists the follies of his young wife, making it believable to the core.

The gamble that made the film adorable is that each of the young actors are provided with roles that you identify with them on screen, often. Though it is predictable, the chemistry of this get together is what makes the audience go for it. Dulquer Salman, with the finest lines to mouth is offered with the best favoured character which he seizes gracefully to get the maximum applauds. Fahad fazil , as usual is offered the least favoured and difficult one , which but works only because of him. But it is Nivin Pauly's Kuttan who with his histronics and subtle voice holds the multi layered and branched movie from breaking apart. Had a lesser actor been on this character , it would have lost the present sheen.  Nazriya, who continues with her `Oshana act' is good but appear not that mature mostly in the later half, when pitched in between the other heavy powers. Parvathy Menon impresses with a role that demands a matured performance, making it the best in her list till now. Isha Talwar and Nithya Menon play to their roles of very special cameos.

The glitzy, glossy  movie has  Sameer Thahir behind the camera, executing perfect frames, while Pradeep Prabhakar's editing is also fine.  Gopi Sunder's musical score and BG suits the vibrancy of the movie.

At around 172 minutes and with four songs ,'Bangalore Days' is definitely a energetic movie that is best prescribed for a hassle free watch this rainy season. Have a spectacular watch with your family .

Rating - 7/10