Movie: Kirrak Party
Director: Sharan Koppisetty
Cast: Nikhil, Simran Pareenja, Samyukta Hegde
Campus stories featuring a gang of friends takes the audience on a trip down memory lane. Undoubtedly, stories like these always strike a chord with the younger lot for portraying the camaraderie and nostalgia about culture wars, a romantic track or two, selfless friendship, fun, politics and rationalism. And Nikhil-starrer Kirrak Party, a remake of Kannada blockbuster Kirrik Party doesn’t deviate from these mainstays, albeit with some hiccups. Debutant Sharan Koppisetty has incorporated the local psyche to the original with able support from directors Chandoo Mondeti and Sudheer Varma, who provided the dialogues and screenplay for the remake.
We get introduced to first-year mechanical engineering student Krishna (Nikhil) and his friends, who fall at first sight for their senior and a good samaritan Meera (Simran Pareenja) the moment they bump into each other in their college corridor. Krishna was really crazy about her and his unwavering love gets bullied by his seniors. He is one such youngster, who doesn’t take it kindly and pledges to settle scores with them. Then, we are in for a big fat surprise which is not worth the wait. The cheerful college-goer eventually transforms into a stubborn, ruthless and complex student leader akin to Vikram from Premam.
The film depicts gleeful incidents of the college life with plenty of comic moments and some genuinely heartfelt scenes. However, the love story doesn’t really get going till intermission followed by a big twist. Half-way through the film, things begin to unfold interestingly only to go off the rails with a lot of melodrama towards the intermission. But, the director makes up in the latter half by taking the tale to a practical conclusion.
The film also highlights the theme of reassessment turned into a quest for self-discovery. In a rare twist for a Telugu film, it’s the leading lady who does all the stalking here. Satya’s (Samyukta Hegde) obsessive pursuit of Krishna is nothing short of lusting and every time he finds her body language peculiar, she keeps telling her friend that he will change his mind for her.
The director followed the same old tropes to evoke some smiles, compassion and makes audience ponder about what could be the genre of the film as it doesn’t belong to youngsters or some matured lot in its entirety. That way, Sharan falls short of the expectations. However, he succeeded for wonderfully presenting the exaggerated and understated moments of the story to the galleries.The story has eight scores composed by Ajaneesh Loknath which express various moods in the narrative and is appealing enough for the viewers to remember.
It’s Nikhil who offers a restrained performance that’s hard to take your eyes off. He slips into the character of Krishna and proves his mettle showcasing varied emotions. He’s ably complemented by his gang of friends – Hemanth, Rakendu Mouli, Viva Raghav and Brahmaji, who played the garage owner. Samyukta Hegde shines in the role of an electrical engineering student who pines for Krishna. Newcomer Simran Pareenja performed well. The cinematography is commanding and so is the music. Kirrak Party brings a taste of your college life and is purely for entertainment. Even though the story may be routine, but it doesn’t make you restless.
muralikrishna.db@newindianexpress @onlymurali