Movie: Siddhartha
Cast: Vinay Rajkumar, Apoorva Arora, Ashish Vidyarthi, Achyuth Kumar
Director: Prakash Jayaram
This is a film for all ages with friendship, love, heartbreak and drama. It is something that will touch a chord with Gen Y as well as reach out to the family audience with the sweet and young story that lies at its heart.
Director Prakash Jayaram employs all his skill to come up with a very believable youthful romance starring Vinay Rajkumar in his debut performance and Apoorva Arora along with a good supporting cast.
The film that features a hip soundtrack snappy dialogues, a slick production design that works as a perfect foil to the story which captures all the energy, chaos and madness of young love.
This is the perfect launch vehicle for Vinay Rajkumar as Siddhartha brings with it a whiff of freshness into the genre as well as the industry.
Like any other college romance, this film also begins with Siddhartha aka Siddhu (Vinay Rajkumar), a happy-go-lucky boy and his ordinary middle-class life. He shares a great relationship with his father (Achyuth Kumar) and they are more like friends. An engineering student, Siddhartha drives a cab owned by his father to earn some extra pocket money. This apart, he spends his time playing the guitar and hanging out with his four friends from school.
One day, as a result of a challenge thrown at him by his friends, our hero ends up at the Chitrakala Parishath art school to pose as a nude model for an art study for which earns a few extra bucks. It is here that he meets Kushi (Apoorva Arora). Like many such stories, at first, the girl dislikes the boy, but soon that hate turns to love and unlike the usual turns of the plot, things go smoothly and their relationship is also accepted by their respective families.
The interesting twist in Siddhartha comes with the hero wanting to take a break from his love life as he wants to spend time with friends and do ‘guy stuff’. Surprisingly, Kushi agrees to the arrangement.
A music competition takes Siddhartha and his friends to Goa and Kushi follows him there without his knowledge. Here, he ends up meeting Anju Mallige (Nikki), a suicidal girl who is depressed over her break-up with her boyfriend. Siddhartha saves her from jumping off a cliff and soon, she falls for her saviour.
Complications ensue, leading to a more permanent break-up between Kushi and Siddhu and she leaves the country in order to pursue her dreams of studying fashion design.
When she returns after a year, it is with a new guy in tow. Will Siddhu’s momentary decision to take a break separate him from the love of his life?
Vinay is winsome in this role as he plays the young loverboy with ease.
His character undergoes several transformations from a vulnerable boy-next-door-character to a brash youth and this is what makes him shine. Credit also goes to the director who has handled the newcomer very well. His role is tailormade. Vinay is not shown flexing his muscles and playing the typical hero. If one observes his gestures, dance sequences and expressions, Vinay has taken a cue from his chikkappa (Puneeth Rajkumar) and channelled him in his performance.
Apoorva Arora though a relative outsider in the Kannada industry, performs her part in a convincing and realistic manner. The film is a coming-of- age modern love story.
The director has made this romantic movie check all the boxes and give it a universal appeal as he brings in the youth as well as the parents’ perspective with characters like Ashish Vidyarthi and Achyuth Kumar who have put in good performances.
Nikki is charming in her guest appearance while Nayana Puttaswamy, MS Umesh, Deepika Das, Sadhu Kokila among others have given their best.
Music director V Harikrishna and lyricist Jayant Kaikini have come up with six powerful songs from Akashave.. to Jadoo Madidanthe ..., goottaagtilla.
They are peppy and romantic and make for easy listening. There is a medley number with the popular hits of Dr Rajkumar, Shivarajkumar, Puneeth and even one from Vinay’s father Raghavendra Rajkumar’s that fits in with the story. Cinematographer Krishna Kumar has added a lot of colour to the film.
Thumbs up to Prakash for handling the themes of friendship and love so well. Siddhartha will make you fall in love with Vinay Rajkumar.
The flaws in the film can be pardoned as they don't diminish the film's quality. This is just the beginning for Vinay's career and it seems that acting truly lies in this third generation Rajkumar’s genes.