'Kalaya Tasmai Namaha' (Kannada)
Director: Chandrasekhar Srivatsav
Cast: Yogish, Madhubala
Like a fitting finale to a decade of memorable gangster films, this flick opens and ends with fast-paced pursuits, bloodbath, and guns. Director Chandrasekhar Srivatsav’s 'Kalaya Tasmai Namaha' deals with a serial supari killer and his love which in the end sends across a message, that says, ‘Anybody can love but only a few can give life’.
The director tries to put across the idea that killers can’t be lovers. Narrated in a flash back style, the first half is set in a village backdrop. The protagonist, Ten (Yogish) is a supari killer and works for underworld don Rangayana Raghu along with his three friends. Madhu (Madhubala), a young teenager in the locality, unknowingly becomes responsible for tipping the police about Ten and his team. This upsets Ten and he plans to take revenge on Madhu. Instead love sprouts between the two.
Now enters the girl’s father, who does not accept Ten and instead hires Rangayana Raghu to teach him a lesson. This instigates Ten to kidnap Madhu and moves to the city with her. Will Madhu marry Ten or will she regret leaving her parents for her love who is a killer? What happens to Ten and Madhu’s love story takes the movie ahead?
This film mainly depends on the script rather than the cast. But the director has taken the slower route in this action story as there is no surprise in the narration that reflects a lesser dose of anger, hatred, betrayal and helplessness.
Yogish, who is known for his dialogue delivery, does not carry his usual mannerism in this film. He paints a darker picture of his side as he makes his screen presence felt mostly with his eyes and body language. Though he is trying to climb the stardom chart with different kinds of roles, he lacks the personality of a supari killer.
There are quite a few laughable scenes, but overall there is nothing much. Ranganayana Raghu, Ravi Kaale, Raju Thalikote and Shanker Ashwath in supporting roles do not make much of an impact. In fact twenty per cent of the film was copied scene-to-scene from Renigunta.
Though the film intends to send out a message through the dialogues written by the director himself, it can’t be an eye-opener and doesn’t complement much to the mood of the film. The camerawork by Cine Tech Soori is the highlight as every scene has been looked into with great care. The background score blends well with the theme.
A couple of songs rendered by AM Neel catches the mood with some melody though the song Kaali Roadu Onti Girlu sung by hero Yogish does not even come close to Kolaveri Di...
The verdict: 'Kalaya Tasmai Namaha' means salutations to that great entity called time. The audience would bow to time, provided there was more meat to the film.