Googal; Director: Dr Nagendra Prasad
Cast: Dr Nagendra Prasad, Shubha Ponja, Shobhraj; Rating: 2.5/5
When you work your love and skill, you get a masterpiece. When you single-handedly put in love, skill and money, you get Googal. Inspired by the idea of a search engine that everyone goes to for answers, this film explores what goes on in the minds of its characters. Dr Nagendra Prasad has donned many hats for this movie -- of the director, producer, lead actor, music composer and dialogue, script and lyrics writer.
The heart of the story lies in an extra-marital affair, and the narrative that revolves more like an episode of a television crime series, which seems to have been made for this movie. In Googal, the housewife Nandini finds no love in her house and enters into an extra-marital relationship with Balu (Deepak) in the hope of finding happiness.
Her husband Harish (Dr Prasad) decides to convince his wife to return for their daughter’s sake, and travels to the place called Googal. What is the reason behind Nandini’s elopement, will Harish restore their marriage and how does this crisis affect their daughter is the crux of Googal, which ends unconvincingly.
Though Nagendra Prasad has stepped away from the regular and commercial storytelling formula, the subject is not new. There are twists and turns, but the story is predictable. The director should have dealt with this subject with sensitivity, which he has failed to do. What he has got right are the characters, excellent songs and a few passable dialogues.
The director, who has acted for the first time, has played the father of a 10-year-old daughter convincingly. Shubha Poonja too has done justice to the character of a lonely woman. The rest of the cast -- Shobraj, Deepak, Amrutha and Jaidev -- too have done well. Cinematograper Nagarjuna has taken excellent aerial shots, which enhances the telling of this story of a journey.
Dr Nagendra Prasad, as a producer, was clever to make this movie on a shoe-string budget. You can go on this journey with him but, if you are looking for answers, stick to Google.
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