Jothe Jotheyalli Kannada Movie
"Jothe Jotheyali" had lot of positive factors going for it. The film was backed by Kannada star Darshan who was supporting the venture from the beginning.
Darshan’s brother Dinakar was being launched as the director and it was made known that the film is a clean family entertainer.
The music album released at least a month before was gaining ground and debutant music director Harikrishna was paid encomiums for his work.
And finally, there was the lucky mascot Ramya is the heroine who now a days getting everything right. But alas, all these things will be pushed into corner once you see and evaluate the film.
Despite music being the prime strength of the film, the way a simple story is narrated on the screen leaves much to be desired. The urban oriented story is very thin and not so original.
There are number of sequences which remind you of sequences you have already seen. The marital discontent factor does not come as something new as the reasons for the discord as shown in the movie and it looks like a repetition. But the only difference here is the husband is from the highly focused AD world requiring intensive, yet irregular work schedules while the wife is working in a 9 to 5 job in a Bank.
Coming to the strengths of the film, it has to be said that two songs of the film are well shot. There is also an item song featuring the colleagues of the AD world (a model is shown doing a provocative number in the chief’s residence).
The proceedings make little interest in the first half of the film, but in the second half the film moves at a snail’s pace even testing your patience.
The court room battle is silly and utterly laughable. The heroine of the film is shown as too gullible in the second half, while in the first half she is shown as an assertive, progressive girl.
Even the hero's characterization lacks consistency. What could have turned out as a neat film has been fettered out by such mistakes.
Director Dinakar who says that he had worked on the script for months together should have known that divorce case is a civil case which is decided in a Civil Court. The dialogues of the film spoken by the heroine and her family members are inconsistent. Some times they speak in the Kannada accent spoken in the Old Mysore area and suddenly they drift to the North Karnataka accent.
Performance wise also the film has nothing to boast off. Prem has shown that he has improved in the emotional sequences. Ramya has conquered big heights in many films before and there is nothing challenging for her in this film. The comedy sequences featuring Sharan, Bullet Prakash and others are just ordinary. Dwarakish for a change has been given an emotional role.
Technically the film is competent, but technical values will not be able to elevate a film unless it has a strong story base. This should have been realized by Dinakar and company.
Dinakar has not tried something different in his first film, but follows the beaten track. The redeeming factor is that he tries to make a neat family film without violence. He will have scopes of improvement in the future and it is better for him to introspect and come with something better next time.