Director Vijayprasad who has handled the megaphone for many tele serials, has now embarked on his maiden voyage in films with Sidlingu. If the lengthy and unnecessary sequences post intermission are any indication, it seems that Vijayprasad is yet to come out of his ‘tele serial’ hangover. Sidlingu takes off well initially and the director does a fair job in narration till intermission but fails to maintain the same tempo post intermission.
It would have been a good film if the director avoided giving too much importance to a few characters. Also, few dialogues like - I like your chest. An unexpected accident in the car — deserve the censor scissors. The movie is about Sidlingu (Yogesh) whose one and only ambition is to own a car. Sidlingu evinces keen interest in drawing or painting a car on a wall and in the notebook rather than focusing on education.
As a college student, Sidlingu has the privilege of sharing his lecturer Turuvekere Aandalamma’s (Suman Ranganath) car. Aandalamma, a widow, falls in love with Sidlingu and even manages to cross the Lakshman Rekha. It is not clear what the director intends to convey to the society especially college students and women lecturers, by including such an indecent scene.
The director leaves the incident at this juncture and introduces one more scene where Sidlingu happens to meet a money lender who takes him to Mangala (Ramya), a teacher who had borrowed some money from him and is now finding it difficult to repay the loan. Pitied by Mangala’s financial condition, Sidlingu postpones his plan of buying a car and lends some money to Mangala and advises her to clear the loan taken from the money lender. Impressed by Mangala’s beauty and simplicity, Sidlingu falls in love with her. He succeeds in owning a car but fate has something else in store him and he ends up behind the bars. Mangala comes to his rescue. Will Sidlingu and Mangala join hands and lead a happily married life?
Among the heroines, it is Ramya who walks away with all the honour. Ramya’s dialogue delivery and gestures are a treat to watch.
However, Suman Ranganath deserves appreciation for accepting to portray a sensual character. Character artiste Girija Lokesh, as Rangamma, has provided good support too. Anup Silin has provided lilting music. It is certainly worth watching till intermission. One needs a little bit extra patience to sit through its second half.