'Colour Photo', starring Suhaas, Chandni Chowdary, Viva Harsha and Sunil, is currently streaming on Aha. Here is our review of the latest OTT release.

Story:

In Machilipatnam, sometime in the late 1990s, Jayakrishna (Suhaas), a college student with big dreams, falls for Deepu (Chandini Chowdary), his classmate and sister of a heartless cop named Rambabu (Sunil). Jayakrishna faces colour-based discrimination and, once Rambabu comes to know of his love affair with his sister, major problems ensue. Can he overcome the challenges and emerge victorious in love?

Analysis:

First things first. 'Colour Photo' is not your quintessential glamorous or flamboyant love story where things turn out to be typical. It has a heart-wrenching undercurrent that surfaces in the last 40 minutes or so.

Writers Sai Rajesh Neelam (also one of the producers of the film) and Sandeep Raj write not just characters but also character arcs - even for non-lead actors. Sunil's Rambabu is not just sadistic but also beauty-conscious. He is not just heartless but also domineering, treating women as his property. Viva Harsha, the best friend of the male protagonist, becomes paranoid at the sight of a dead body, a quirk that is deployed in a poignant manner in the climax. The senior at the college, the principal, the female protagonist's sister-in-law, they all have something or the other to convey.

Suhaas is introduced as an aspiring Engineering graduate with almost larger-than-life dreams for his poor background. Save some inconsistencies, the character's behaviour is engaging. How he grapples with the colour-based discrimination is bold and ennobling, in the sense that he takes up the cudgels and gives it back to his racist principal in a very well-written address to the students of his college.

Sunil's character makes a belated re-entry and changes the course of the story. A series of emotionally shattering moments follow. To its credit, the film dares to do something different.

The progress of the love story on the campus could have been handled better. Since the actual romance takes a full 55 minutes or so to take off, it could feel tiresome. At about 140 minutes, the film doesn't dither or flip-flop. Even so, some of the scenes are a drag.

A complaint is that Suhaas's character seems to overdo the cuteness factor. The interactions between the hero-heroine duo would have been great had the segment been handled well.

The performances have to be evaluated at two levels. If you see the performances of the lead pair in isolation, they are adequate. But in the scenes where they are together, they don't click somehow. As a result, the film is bereft of sublime chemistry. The one scene where they make you well up is in the climax. Sunil fits the bill and doesn't go overboard. Viva Harsha is comical even in the scenes where the lines are meh.

Kaala Bhairava's background music is minimalist and dramatic, as the case may be. Venkat R Shakamuri's camera captures the college campus, the beach, the darkness with conviction.

Verdict:

'Colour Photo' pushes the envelope insofar as it tells a cataclysmic love story. Debutant director Sandeep Raj tells a layered story for the most part. But the film suffers from some serious flaws as well. The chemistry between the lead pair is superficial until before the last leg of the story. Much screentime is wasted in making the audience sympathize with the male lead.