Film: Eleyaru Naavu Geleyaru
Director: Vikram Soori
Cast: Nihal, Achintya, Amogh, Abhishek,
Rating: 2.5/5
In the age of regular commercial potboilers, a children’s film Eleyaru Naavu Geleyaru definitely comes as a delight. The makers, cashing in on the popularity of the reality show, Drama Juniors, brought in the youngsters on silver screen. But are these children succesful in making the kind of impact they made on the small screen in theatres?
As for the story, a young school girl Vidya from Bengaluru moves to a village since her father gets transferred. There she bonds with a few school children - Paper Mohan (Tushar), Marakothi Seena (Mahendra), Mechanic Ustad (Suraj), Kambarkut Swamy (Nihal), Halkiri Vajrappa (Abhishek), Gorake Shankara (Amogh) and Raja (Achinthya) for whom life is all about spending time together. They also hope to do some kind of social service in the village. They believe in skills beyond their classroom. A situation arises where they put themselves into risk. How and if they surpass this forms the crux of Eleyaru Naavu Geleyararu, which comes with its own highlights.
Written by Nagaraj Gopal, it captures a series of episodes of school going children and irregularities that often takes place in a village school such as the mid day meals, toilet facilities and Swacch Bharath Abhiyan scheme, which seems to be too big an issue to be told by these children. But the highlight of Eleyaru is the kids’ innocence and their helping nature, which leaves a lasting impression.
The film features 10 kids, who are honest in their performances, but they are still yet to come out of their stage show persona and so is the director, Vinay Soori, their mentor. These children did need a breathing space after the reality show.
Moreover, the director has not made them act, but have captured their reactions to the situations. Making their presence are a few senior actors in the film, who don’t quite make an impact. Though all the child artistes fair equally, Achintya is the most popular one.
Apart from a neatly scored album by music director Anoop Seelin, Ashok V Raman’s cinematography is good when it comes to showing the village landscape.
With kids, the entertainment element doesn’t catch up until the end. Having said that, Eleyaru... makes for a one time watch and a film that a family can sit and watch together.