Saturday, January 22, 2022

Hridayam movie review : It is no `Premam'

Hridayam is from  the genre of films of which ` Premam' belongs. So comparing  Hridayam to Premam , is inevitable. Hridayam is no patch on that movie. Secondly, Vineeth Srinivasan has slipped badly in fleshing out the main protagonist Arun played by Pranav Mohanlal. From here onwards take place  the slide in creating a film about relationships that one encounters in life's journey.  Arun is shown as one who has had no strong friendships with his peers except for the girl Darshana with whom he breaks up at the start of the movie and his other is a sidekick. With this character , how do you work out a subject of bonding and emotions  ?

The only friend that made an impression on Arun is Selva, a Tamil student who motivated him to study and clear the arrears. This guy meets with an accident and dies. After that Arun is shown to have not have kept in touch with his Tamil pals or any body else. it was only with Darshana .It is justified if all college mates turn up for Darshana's wedding but Arun who is not shown to have any bonding with his mates in and after college has a big gang turn up. Strange guys !!!.

So many cliches like the wedding in rain, lush green meadows, soft mushy music , college ragging, funny teachers and some what we call  cringe moments are filled in to keep the narrative going. When the wedding photographer falls in love with Kalyani Priyadarshan saga starts and the entire length up to the marriage and the baby care- in- laws is one that just does not merge with the main movie. It stands out like a sore thumb.  Kalyani plays the butter will not melt in my mouth role with ease.

Now as climax moves to Darshana's wedding , we expect some intense exchange between her and ex BF Arun.  We see this bold girl ask questions to Arun about what if the guy she marries turns to be  a bad choice and he gives a reply which means that a hubby/ wife and a baby is what everybody's  moment is all about.

Technically the film is top notch. Given a role that is not well defined, Pranav does not have much of scenes for us to see the actor in him, Only one scene is what you take home- When he video calls his ex and tells about him being a father. Wish Vinneth had given as much care to Arun character as much to Darshana's. Among the hollow characters around, Darshana had to shine and she did. Some actors like the side kick to Pranav and the guy who played Selva are a few you remember.

We have to talk about music separately in this film as the director has put in 15 songs and even got back the old cassette tape back for audio launch. Hesham steps in place for Vinneth's regular -Shaan and no doubt he does full justice ( except for the Hindi - Tamil bits ).  Except for three songs, all others are fillers. 

Is Hridayam as memorable as `Premam' - No.  In the middle of  all the muck- over exaggerated box office claims and pretensions of being a trend setter, Hridayam can definitely be watched. It is not big screen experience and so even an OTT will do. 

No comments:

Featured Post

Nayanthara - Malavika in song with Prabhas - Sreeleela with Sivakarthikeyan - Kunchacko in Prabhas - Sandeep film -

  As Prabhas Raja Saab is his next after Kalki there is huge excitement. He handles comedy in this film. Niddhi Agarwal is the heroine. Now ...