Armed with a theatre background, Mounesh Badiger has attempted to piece together his first, Soojidaara. He must be credited for his earnest and innovative attempt to connect with the audience. The multi-layered film with a high emotional quotient is the story of Shabeer (Yashwanth Shetty), who is on the run from his hometown of Mangaluru.
In spite of not being at fault, he is chased by the police. Shabeer becomes Shankar and takes refugee at Chitradurga where he rents a house, and works at the owner’s photocopying store. Here, he meets Padma, who is being harassed by her husband (Suchendra Prasad).
In the process of getting to know each other, Shankar realises Padma is actually Sakshi, whom he’s acquainted with through a past incident that took place in his hometown. Will the two find their identity and will Shabeer alias Shankar prove his innocence? In parallel is a story of Raji (Chaithra Kotoor), a flower seller whose passion is to become an serial artiste. Will she able to fulfil her aspirations? This is revealed during the credit roll. In the backdrop, the director has also interpreted his story with bits from the Ramayana. These appear on and off and have a strong relevance with the various characters and their struggles and sacrifices.
The first-time director with a strong subject in hand, threads the entire plot at his own pace. This definitely tests patience. However, the pace compensates with the story’s authenticity, especially the right characters and shooting locales. All of these make it as close to reality as possible.
Connecting the dots is Hariprriya, along with Yashwanth, who get the stitches straight as for their acting abilities. Both of them are clearly the director’s actors. A special mention to Chaithra Kotoor, Achyuth Kumar, Suchendra Prasad, Shreya Anchan, Harish Rudrayya who are part of the tapestry, and have given their best performances.
With well-themed music by Bhinna Shadja, backgound scored by Pradeep Varam, and cinematographer Ashok V Raman’s picturisation, the film is a complete package.Threads from the life of various people form Soojidaara, the 131-minute intricately-made film.
Director: Mounesh Badiger Rating: 3/5 stars |