He’s one of those actors struggling to find a niche for himself in a post- Arjun Reddy world. Maybe it’s progress that we get a male version of the ‘bubbly’ girl trope, but it certainly doesn’t make for good cinema. I won’t blame that on Naga Shourya because Akash is a poorly written character whose sole purpose seems to be ‘look good, dress good and Vishal Chandrashekhar, the music director will take care’ (more on him later). And when it’s revealed that her present actions and opinions are due to a bad romance in the past it makes all the hype around her character fall flat.īut Ritu Varma’s job is that much harder because she and Naga Shourya seem to have no chemistry. What’s the point of building Bhoomi up to be so strong, flawed but relatable if she’s going to melt and break into a duet at the first sign of ‘heroism’. The costume design does more for her in this film than the writing ever did. Yet, as the film also wants her to sing and dance and croon cheesy lyrics, Ritu Varma struggles rather visibly.
I don’t think there are too many actors today who can do such a good job of looking disappointed in others and still make the characters likable. If there is anything worth noting it’s that Ritu Varma tries her best to save this film adding dignity to a character whose emotional spectrum is ‘angry and arrogant’ to ‘naïve and in love’. So, the film meanders into a predictable and flavourless flashback, rom-com cliches, comedy tracks (do we really need them still in 2021!), greenery of the countryside, a near wedding video-esque montage, awful and stale dialogue etc. With such ‘flawless’ characters, there is no meat for drama.