When you talk proudly about Kannada films in the recent times you can hardly miss mentioning Pawan Kumar's "Lucia" . The immense success of this film put Pawan onto the list of acclaimed film-makers and the expectation level just got higher. This really puts him in a tight situation. After a gap of more than two years Pawan is back with his new project / film "U turn". The title is catchy for sure and the trailer does tempt you to watch as soon as it hits the screen.
Unlike Lucia, this is not a mind-bending, twisty or a clever script. Its minimalist, focused, fast paced and follows a linear narrative. As revealed in the trailer its a story about the mysterious events that occur on a flyover. How these events get connected to each of the characters in the film is interestingly woven. Its quite unusual to have a female play the lead protagonist but it seems to be a very sensible decision. In any narrative there should be some character which we should sympathise with and that kind of fits in right. The urban set-up of Bangalore that we live in blends perfectly with the plot. Even though the narrative scopes itself to Bangalore, it kind of works for any metropolitan city where time, traffic, chaos take precedence.
The film starts with some heavy conversational scene which is rather unconnected to the main plot. So even if you walk in five minutes late into the show you haven't missed anything important. "U Turn" is not those "dont miss the beginning" films. It flows freely and falls in place by the end of first thirty minutes. Once the main plot kicks in it hooks you on. The plot is so thin and sacred that you just cant think of tampering it by giving unnecessary faking shocks. In a way the film builds up and unfolds in a predictable sort which made sense to me. It could have been clever but the tone is such that it is more subtle than being complex. Having the lucid Lucia experience there are high chances that you could have expected it to go to wow you but the narrative chooses to be straight and more importantly delivers what it has to. We Indians are kind of fond of message oriented films. Ask any film-maker, he says there is a social message, its become a norm sort of. If you build a narrative such that the message is passed and not forced that probably has more impact. Those who have watched "Sairat" will relate to this. U-turn too does not force any message but does bring out the aspect of civic sense and responsibilities. I hope after watching people will remember and get reminded of their responsibilities on and off the roads. Lets not just limit ourselves to put on some FB post stating "I will not take this or that turn #uturn".
There is shift in genre from romance, thriller, mystery, horror. Its kind of risky given the mood swings however its an interesting experiment which did not disturb me much. There is no scope for songs, forced comical situations and am glad that no compromise has been done on this part owing to the commercial aspects. This is appreciable! There are scenes where in dialogues are excessive. Since most of the audience connect with dialogues more than the visual this traditional technique is still followed.
Performances were pretty decent. Shraddha fits in right for the role. A new face was seriously needed and she seems to have played it well. Many might feel that her Kannada could have been better but w.r.t the character she plays it is quite OK. Krishna Hebbale once again plays a cop. He is kind of senior. Roger Narayan gives out a new feel and seems to be a great find for the role. Dilip Raaj is a fine actor but has been underutilized. Hope he gets noticed for his work. There is one actor who keeps on coming to your mind while you watch the film but never comes on screen. Baadal!
Technically this is a well executed film. There is nothing awesome about the visuals as the shots are more natural and more like what you see in day-today life. The sound-scape especially for a city like Bangalore seems very effective.
No big producers, no big stars yet Pawan and his team manage to pull out a film that engages you for about two hours. Agreed that its of a different experience than Lucia but how many films like U-turn gets written, executed and delivered? Could it have been more better? Maybe! Could it have different way of ending? Maybe! But it would spoil the narrative. Looks like the only way it had to end has been followed. Well the fact is, Its an indigenous script and it surely deserves your time.
