People had fallen for the angry man from Telugu industry who hit the screens with a block buster movie, ARJUN REDDY which become sensational and was very sensitive even today with the critics. Now the same man is with his movie DEAR COMRADE in four languages and here we go for the review.
Plot
Chaitanya aka Bobby (Vijay Deverakonda) and Aparna Devi aka Lilly (Rashmika Mandanna) are childhood friends who reunite after some gap. Lilly is passionate about cricket, which Bobby discovers slowly. But Lilly’s dream ends in the middle due to an unexpected event. How Bobby rekindles the fire in Lilly towards cricket and stands by her in achieving her goal? How he helps her overcome the personal and professional problem is what the movie is all about.
In another words; the subject of Dear Comrade is straight-up his alley which deals more with human emotions rather than present any big twists or turns. Dear Comrade is a journey of two characters together where one helps the other in overcoming their fears and achieving the goals.
Direction – Screenplay
Bharat Kamma, a short film director, makes a full-fledged movie debut with Dear Comrade. Like many before him who have made a similar jump, one can see footprints of the directorial style in what they have done earlier. We can see, and feel the same with Bharat Kamma here.
Right from the beginning, the attempt is to create small, realistic, memorable moments that linger with the viewers. It is not the story, but these ‘moments’ which has to work for the narrative to take its shape. As Malayalam movie audience would have seen these flicks earlier like Nivin Pauly starrer, Alphonse Puthran’s “Premam” and Dulqur Salman starrer Sameer Thahir’s “Neelakasham Pachakkadal Chuvanna bhoomi” it would seem that the story line is overrated.
After going through the first half patiently, one hopes for some twist and engaging drama in the second half. The initial few sequences raise our expectations too, but they are cut short, and we get back to a routine.
The idea behind a “Comrade” is alright, but the narrative is dull and lacks the bite to make a firm impression. The way the turnaround is shown in the end comes across as silly. After all the effort done to build the character and world slowly, the way the climax is done makes it look rushed. The writing is flat with no real depth.
Edit – Cinematography
Sujith and Sreejith; the duo brothers are the pillars. Cinematography by Sujith is one of the plus points of the movie. Scenes from a rainy day to a lone hill station have given a breezy sight to eyes. But coming to the editing aspects, as the length of the movie is too long, it is needed to go for a better trim not affecting the heart scenes. The colouring done by Sreejith was cool and has great effects.
Music
Justine Prabhakaran has done a fantastic job in Dear Comrade. The songs, although seems overdone, are still among the best parts of the movie. The background score is impressive as well. The cinematography is neat. The town feel of Kakinada has been captured naturally.
Performance
Vijay Deverakonda shows his intense acting one more time. Temperament, anger, ideologically bent, all are distinctly suited to Deverakonda’s image and he is in his elements. His performance is the major drive. Vijay has shown the graph of the transformation of this character superbly.
The role that Rashmika played is a role with substance. In this author-backed role, Rashmika is superb. In the role of the cricketer, she has got the antics right. She steals the show in the end.
Dear Comrade has no proper characters besides the main leads. There are many that we see, but none have an importance in the core plot of the film which revolves around Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna. Suhas and Shruti Ramachandran have some bits, but one forgets them as soon as they are out of the frame. The actor playing Cricket board chairman is alright. He too has limited screen time to have any lasting effect.
Overall Verdict
In the end, Dear Comrade is a sincerely made work that is devoid of any surprises. The characters tread a predictable path making the narrative dull. It is a one-time watch if you have nothing else to do in the weekend and are in a must-see a movie mood.