Ladies & Gentlemen Review

‘Ladies And Gentlemen’ tells three separate stories involving seven characters, between them.  They are not networked to each other; instead, what is common to them is a social networking site determining their future.

Manjunath’s debut film is not a run-of-the-mill fun and frolic caper, and it doesn’t feature romantic duets and tired and tested college campus banter.  It’s hardly 120 minutes and packs in rather corny narration. Out of the three stories, one surely has an unexpected denouement.  But this one is not enough to make one pitch for it, especially after going through the story of a greedy youngster whose criminality bears resemblance to scores of notorious stories talked about in the media day in, day out.

Priya (Nikita Narayan of ‘It’s My Love Story’ fame) and Anand (Kamal Kamaraju of ‘Avakai Biryani’ fame) are a couple with no trouble in their married life.  Anand is too busy to notice Priya’s unhappiness over him not spending time with him.  Routine stuff.  Wait, there is a whiff of extra-marital air around.

Krishna Murthy (Chaitanya Krishna) is an intelligent but shy and timid dude; he desperately needs a love interest.  The day he receives a friend request from Deepu (Swathi Dixit) on Facebook, it is a born-again moment, with him singing a premature solo immaturely romantic dream-cum-surreal alpha-numeric number.  But the world around him is full of FB cheats, he realizes belatedly.  Is it a gay innocuously disguising as a Samantha fan?  In comes the girl herself after he expresses a disguised doubt.  And love blooms.

Then there is Vijay (Mahat Raghavendra of ‘Back Bench Student’ fame), a Call Centre employee leading an unsustainable lifestyle.   He woos Anjali (Jasmin Bhasin) , a model, and she thinks of him to be a businessman. How long can he make the gigantic ends meet with his peanuts?

While the premises of the three stories are not exciting, the narration leaves much to be desired.  Except for a moment or two, the cyber element doesn’t seem to lend novelty.  It could have been just another story detailing any other modus operandi.

For a story of this sort, style was as important as substance.   The songs could have been used to carry the pace forward, but Raghu Kunch’s numbers, lacking conceptual strength, are a drag.  The love tragedy song for an offender is blissfully edited out.

There is no point in narrating elements like recovery agents using intimidation to cough up credit money in such a mundane manner.  The scene where Jeeva speaks in broken English and slaps around a model is old- fashioned.  It’s also inconceivable how one can come up with scenes where a BPO employee is not aware of Phishing mails.

Raghu Kunche having a song for himself could have been excused had the music been good.  Sunny’s BGM passes muster.

As for the dialogues, they are okay.  Puri Jagannadh should have got better lines for the voice-over to make an impact.

The performances are convincing, except for Chaitanya Krishna, who did not fit the bill as a timid guy.  Mahat has the ability to play offbeat roles for sure.  Adivi Sesh yet again proves he can emote well, and he has a good screen presence.  Nikita and Kamal Kamaraju are good, too.

Verdict: ‘Ladies And Gentlemen’ takes a law and order issue and spins three stories around the tactics of tricksters.  Alas, the story-telling is rather milk-and-water.

Rating: 2/5