Youthful dreams and ambitions

Movie: Badava

Cast: Dhananjay, Amrutha Iyengar

Director: Shankar Guru

Ratings: 3.5 stars

Y Maheswara Reddy

Shankar Guru, who makes debut as a full-fledged director with this movie, has aptly narrated the problems, desires and ambitions of youth of middle-class families in Bengaluru. He has explained how they get disappointed when they fail to realize their desires and ambitions. The only problem with the director is that he gave more screen space to characters busy with either smoking cigarettes or emptying liquor or beer bottles instead of realizing their desires and dreams. It is unfortunate that the director has not realized the adverse impact of such scenes - drinking and smoking.

The story is about Shankar (Dhananjay) who is ever ready to empty two to three bottles of liquor or beer at one go. Shankar is also ready to go to any extent to help his friends. He happens to fall in love with Sangeetha (Amrutha Iyengar), the daughter of Premakumari (Rekha), a politician. As usual, Sangeetha’s mother becomes a villain for her. Shankar’s parents (Rangayana Raghu and Tara) try their best to convince Premekumari but in vain. Will Shankar join hands with Sangeetha to lead a happy married life?

Dhananjay has excelled as a middle-class youth and has acted well in stunt and song sequences. His dancing skills deserve a pat on the back. Amrutha Iyengar is at her best. Her performance in a scene where she threatens the hero’s friends to kill them by mixing poison in coffee is superb.

It is not there is no sentiment in this movie. There are many scenes that have the potential to make them connected with the characters in this movie. For instance, there is a scene where the hero’s father explains to him how his mother sacrificed her dream of buying a gold chain to buy a TV for him. The dialogues between the hero and his father are very good and they convey an important message to the youth of today.

Tara and Ranganaya Raghu, who acted as husband and wife, are at their best. Rekha is convincing as a shrewd and scheming politician. Directors Vijay Prasad and Guru Prasad have proved that they too could act.

Songs are good and Vasuki Vaibhav has provided peppy and foot tapping music. It is worth watching by mass audiences.