Film: Raju Kannada Medium
Director: Naresh Kumar
Cast: Gurunandan, Avantika Shetty, Ashika Ranganath, Angelina Desedina
A film about an innocent village boy, Raju Kannada Medium sends an apt message of ‘survival of the fittest’. With Sudeeplending an impressive presence with his insightful dialogues, the film turns is worth a watch, although it loses its sheen in the second half.
Based on family, friends, first crush, achievements, success, and money, Raju Kannada Medium questions the meaning of happiness and peace.
Raju, (Gurunandan) a village boy falls in love with a school girl (Ashika Ranganth), but unfortunately her parents move out to another place. A few years later, he moves to the city to make a living, but his challenge is that he only knows Kannada. His initial struggles with his job and how he manages the whole situation is shown in a creative way.
Life changes for Raju when he falls in love with a colleague, Nisha (Avantika Shetty), who initially takes Raju for a ride, but falls for his innocence. Love blossoms between the two. Raju, who wants to give the best of the world to Nisha resigns his job and starts his own business. He is inspired by business tycoon Deepak Chakravarthy (Sudeep) from whom he takes advice and tries to sincerely follow it at every stage of his career and life.
Just when everything seems right, Raju’s flight from US crashes and everyone on board is declared dead. How will Nisha handle the situation, with or without Raju, is the crux of Raju Kannada Medium, which comes with a twist in the end.
The film is narrated with some funny moments, courtesy comedians, Sadhu Kolika, Chikkanna, Kuri Pratap, and is wrapped with good messages which only add value to the efforts of the director Naresh Kumar. However, the second half has an evident inspiration from the Hollywood movie Castaway, since he puts the protagonist in the same situation, even managing to escape from sharks, and then find a friend in Angelina Desedina in the midst of the island, who goes to the extent of sacrificing her own life.
If one foregoes the Castaway factor, this is a bearable film, with the second half becoming a little slow. Of course, the film comes with rich production qualities. Gurunandan effortlessly carries the character Raju on his shoulders. Avantika Shetty, Ashika Ranganath and Angelina Desedina have justified their respective roles and they are placed well in the film.
Sudeep’s short and sweet presence, with inspirational dialogues, stand out individually.
Kiran Ravindranath has scored a mix of love and pathos. Popular among them is Kodeyandara Adiyalli, Kanneralli, Ekangi Haadinali and Marula Neenu.
Cinematographer Shekar Chandra has captured the village beauty, the aerial view of Bengaluru, and serene water bodies. This is an innocent man’s journey worth a one- time watch.