Dilruba, produced by Vikram Mehra, Siddharth Anand Kumar, Ravi, Jojo Jose, Rakesh Reddy, is out in theatres with paid premieres on Thursday evening.
Story:
Siddhu (Kiran Abbavaram) is a college student with a sad past. Having failed in love once and lost his father to a betrayal, Siddhu has almost become emotionless. When his collegemate Anjali (Rukshar Dhillon) woos him, he spurns her proposal and warns her to stay away from him. But an incident involving an eccentric character changes the course of Siddhu’s emerging relationship with Anjali. Meanwhile, his ex Maggie (Kathy Davison) is back in his life to fix his present.
Analysis:
Director Viswa Karun makes his debut with Dilruba, a film with two love stories and a rivalry at its core. Just because there are two romantic partners in the male lead’s life, this is not a triangular love story. The romances don’t overlap, and are separated by time and space. On one level, Dilruba is also a coming-of-age love story.
Kiran Abbavaram‘s Siddhu has grown disillusioned with ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thank You’, which he believes are done as a lip service by insincere individuals. A violent clash later, bruised egos come to the surface. How Siddhu and Anjali navigate this complicated scenario is what the film is essentially about.
The second half is where the character density increases. The story and multiple conversations revolve around the thinking and attitude of Kiran’s character. The dialogues philosophize a lot of everyday issues, including the importance of apologizing and choosing the middle path. An accidental tryst with an eccentric character drives the story in unexpected directions.
The songs, especially Kanna Nee, are razor-sharp. Sam CS’ background score is focused; it also stylizes a few action scenes. The cinematography by Viswas Daniel is steady. Edited by Praveen KL, the film also benefits from the colour palette supported by production designer Sudheer Macherla’s choices.
The action direction by Pruthvi is impressive. The pub fight and the college fights prove to be positives. The climax fight is where all prominent characters come together to find closure.
After a kosher mystery Karmic thriller like KA, Kiran plays a commercial role that lets him show incessant rage and emotions. He hits it out of the park wherever the script presents him the opportunity. Comedian Satya is seen in a few scenes that are not comedy tracks. Getup Srinu has a cameo. John Vijay, who was seen as Ranga in Salaar, plays a don figure named Joker. Aadukalam Naren, the Tamil actor, plays Anjali’s cop-dad. Tulasi Shivamani plays Siddhu’s mother.
Verdict:
Dilruba presents a narrative with two distinct love stories. While the film ventures into philosophical dialogues and explores themes of forgiveness and self-discovery, it is also technically strong.
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