Minchina Ota Kannada Movie
Minchina Ota featuring brothers Vijaya Raghavendra and Sree Murali had carried lot of hype as it was directed by young M.R.Ramesh who had shown lot of promise in his second film 'Cyanide' which had not only won an award, but was dubbed into many languages. And it was for the first time that the two young stars were acting together in a film.
Ramesh had claimed in the pre release media interactions that he had made a different type of a taut thriller with some commercial ingredients. Alas, all these claims fall flat as Minchina Ota turns out to be an insipid narrative loosely based on famous Hollywood director Spielberg's first feature-length effort, 1971's Duel. Duel was widely acclaimed as one of the best movies ever made for television. The film proved so successful on the small screen, in fact, that it later was the recipient of theatrical distribution throughout Europe, where it proved to be a major box-office hit. But Ramesh has utterly failed to bring in any interesting moments in the film despite being inspired by a classic film.
M.R.Ramesh's script has too many lose ends. It looks as if he has jammed every commercial element into the plot. The sequences featuring Umashri and Rangayana Raghu, parents of the slum boy Sree Murali are really painful to watch. And even the sequences with comedy punch dialogues are ineffectively portrayed. And even in the second half, where a fast moving car is combated by a truck driver there are many dull moments. The tea stall sequences which come on screen as inter cuts with the car and truck chasing sequences lessen the impact of any possible thrill.
The story revolves around Bhadra, a slum boy who has a group of his own friends. And there is a neighboring boy who lives in an apartment who is always fighting with him. Both the boys are with their own naughty brigade. And the centre of focus is a girl who has come from Mangalore for studies. This girl is being loved by Bhadra and Vijay. But the girl falls for a slum boy. A jealous Vijay telephones the girl's brother who is a Mangalore based Don. The girl is taken by Don's henchman, but now Vijay who faces some guilt tries to help Bhadra get the girl. They move out in a car to get the girl. What happens later forms the elaborate climax sequence of the film.
Vijaya Raghavendra and Sree Murali have shown their commitment to this project by not only looking different, but by adopting different styles in their acting. But the script fails them. Lakshmi Rai carries her role with aplomb and even looks glamorous. Umashri and Rangayana Raghu do a bit of overacting. Suman has a limited role. Rahul Roy is just passable.
The film's technical work is good. V.Manohar has delivered some catchy tunes besides doing a good work in background music. P.Rajan has done exceptional camera work.
Despite good technical content, Minchina Ota fails to deliver.
