Bangalore Naatkal Movie Reviews

After watching Bangalore Naatkal, the first question that pecks the mind is that what is the need for remaking films like Bangalore Days and Premam? Both the films are already quite popular with the Tamil and Telugu audiences. Moreover, Bangalore Days, though a Malayalam film, can be watched by speakers of any language, given that almost all the scenes at least have one English dialogue to clue you in into the proceedings. So, unless a director has a special ingredient to add to the already-tasty recipe, it is futile to remake such films. And the director of Bangalore Naatkal, Bhaskar, definitely didn't have anything special; actually, he didn't even get the recipe correct in the first place.

The comedy drama is about three cousins and their quarter-life crisis. Divya, played by Sri Divya, is married off to Rana at a young age, and thereby all her dreams are killed. Karthik (Simha) is transferred to Bangalore against his will, and Arya, the modern vagabond, a spoilt child from a dysfunctional family, has all the stereotypical problems of such a kid. All the three cousins end up in Bangalore and the aftermath is the story of Bangalore Naatkal. It is of course a potential script, but there are many ways to spoil a script than the other way round.

So, what went wrong with Bangalore Naatkal? Obviously, it is the casting. Simha was a conspicuous misfit among the lot, like the wigs he was wearing. He is a National Award-winning actor alright, but how would it be to watch Jim Carrey play Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb in Inception? That's what has happened with his role. On top of that, Simha was the narrator of the film and it was like watching Adam Sandler narrating Shawshank Redemption.

Arya yet again has a few expressions, and to keep watching him repeat those facial templates is irksome. Parvathy and, to an extent,
Sri Divya, are the two actors who keep you engrossed in the film. Rana Daggubati didn't have much to do, except to look grumpy throughout the film, and it seems like something that naturally comes to that actor (It is hard to find a picture of him smiling).
A feel-good movie should have some feel good songs, but even here we are let down by music director Gopi Sunder. Maangalyam Thanthunanena is the only song that stays with you till the end.

If you are subtitle-challenged or a language fanatic, watch Bangalore Naatkal; if not, you are better off with Bangalore Days.