The Feel-good Film of our Times

Director BM Giriraj always attempts to creatively migrate from the regular masala offerings and come up with different fare and Mythri is his latest venture.   This realistic film is important because of its combination of a social message with universal appeal.  The basic narrative of

Mythri follows the track of the  Hollywood film, Slumdog Millionaire but adapts it to the local context. Giriraj’s film draws us into the life of 12-year-old Siddharama aka Siddhu (Aditya) who lands up on the streets after his mother’s death and ends up in a juvenile remand home. Though uneducated, Siddhu has a lively native intelligence which makes him land up as a participant on the Karunada Kotiyadipathi, a quiz show hosted by Puneeth Rajkumar. Siddhu is a big fan of Puneeth and gets a chance to go on the hot seat with the help of another juvenile home inmate, Johnson (Jagadish) and the strict warden Raviprakash (Atul Kulkarni) who takes him to Chennai to participate in the show.

Siddhu manages to gets through till the last round and when he is on the brink of winning the top prize of one crore, there is the surprise entry of DRDO scientist Mahadev Godke (Mohanlal) who reveals Siddhu’s background to Puneeth and the fact that he is in the remand home for killing somebody. Will Siddhu experience the triumph of winning one crore or go back to jail remains to be seen? By far, Mythri is one of the most sensible and a feel-good Kannada films in recent times. Giriraj’s film’s strengths lie in its narrative force combined with elements of joy, suspense and reality along with the overall vision of the director and the energy of the actors. The film boasts a good starcast with great music by

Ilayaraaja that is pitched perfectly with good camera work by Krishna Kumar and neat editing by KM Prakash. For stars like Puneeth Rajkumar, Mohanlal and Atul Kulkarni, their respective roles were more like a cake walk. But it is young actors like Aditya and Jagadish, who along with  other kids and teenagers, steal the show with their simple unpretentious act.  The real star of the film is the content that creates a contrast between the rich and the poor. Bhavana, Archana and Ravi Kale do a good job in their guest appearances.

With the summer holidays just weeks away, Mythri can be one of the best holiday films for the entire family.