Vaaradhi Review

'Vaaradhi' in a nutshell is the transformation of a self-centered, perverse personality into a meaningful human being.  The crux lies in who initiates the change.  The directorial innovation comes at the interval, but the way this innovative idea is leveraged in an old-fashioned way leaves much to be desired.  At the end, it is nothing more than the central character's journey of self-discovery without the aforementioned novelty being exploited.

The film begins with the last day at the college.  Aradhana (Sri Divya) has been loved by Hemanth for three years and when the former reciprocates, tragedy strikes in a cruel way.  Hemanth is killed in a road accident but Aradhana survives with his memories.  Living with his memories, she is lost for happiness.

Kranthi is a cinematic character with a penchant for torturing whoever is happy around him.  His quirks send shivers down the spine of his colleagues, neighbours and all.  One fine day, Cupid strikes him in the form of Aradhana.

Being self-centered, Kranthi can't understand the world of Aradhana, a damsel in distress.  The big day comes in his life when Aradhana spurns him with a tight slap, but a surreal twist awaits him the same day!

Sateesh Kartikeya might have been able to bring out a much better output had he had able financial backing.  While he manages to engage us throughout the first half (with Kranthi's idiosyncrasies, a workplace humour that is measured, a host of comedians like Srinivas Reddy, late MS Narayana, Krishna Bhagawan and Dhan Raj who get minor roles with the exception of the first), the second half borders on the antiquated in terms of narration style.

The oldishness is not about the storyline (which need not be novel always for the film to be entertaining), but the way the proceedings are treated.  Directorial contraption lies in embellishing the humdrum with a dose of humour.  This is there after the tryst with the benign spirits but recedes into oblivion after a while.  Just how the spirits explain their part of the story could have been used to have a chic song.

The dialogues are intelligent and surely add some pep to the proceedings.  'After all aatmalu..' and the like apart, the profound lines about love spouted by Sri Divya's character are nice.

A good idea seems to be have been squandered away what with the film is reduced to simplistic conversions of the profane into the consecrated.

The songs are conceived with maturity and the lyricists rise up to the occasion.  There is no routine pattern at least in terms of the numbers.  Like some lines, the songs are laced with thoughtful language.

There was a bit of confusion regarding Hemanth's character, perhaps,  Why would he try to take away Kranthi from his "friend" when he trusts the judgment of the person in question?

While the storyline permits some surrealism to be indulged in liberally, after a while, the proceedings start looking dreary and ironically so.

The performances are neat.  Kranthi and Sri Divya come into their own as the film progresses.  Others fit the bill, too.

The cinematography is not lavish.

Verdict: It could have been a better film with different sensibilities.  All in all, the idea is striking.