Director: Raju Halaguru
Cast: Rakesh Adiga, Soniya, Avinash
It is hard to tell what Preetiyinda is all about. It could be a story about a mother and son. But it is also a love story of a boy and a girl. And, it is also about this girl and her marriage to her father’s best friend for the strangest reason… The plot is as absurd as the tagline of the film which is: “Love + Sentiment + Struggle + Action = Life”. The film claims to explore the different facets of love but ends up creating a giant mess instead, an insufferable one at that.
Kartik is a student of fine arts and is waiting to find the girl of his dreams. His mother (who is actually someone he has adopted) wants him to get married soon. Cut to Bhoomika, who on her 18th birthday, announces that she will marry her father’s close friend, Captain Amar, a former Army soldier, to repay him for taking care of her after her family’s demise. Despite the fact that the Captain refuses to marry Bhoomika saying it is inappropriate, she insists and considers him her husband. Captain then decides to send her out to college in the hope that she will discover some normal relationships. It is then that Bhoomika meets Kartik and falls in love. What happens to this triangular ludicrousness forms the rest of the plot.
Poorly made, the film is simply difficult to sit through. The dialogues are laughable even in some of the most serious scenes. The songs are weirdly timed but do offer a relief from the crooked plot. As actors, Rakesh Adiga and Soniya are average. Even Avinash disappoints.
But what is really shocking is the lack of effort on the part of the filmmaker. The script is cringe-worthy to begin with. There is no justification given for Bhoomika’s decision to marry her father’s friend. There are plenty of sub-plots in the film that are given no conclusions. And, finally, what tops the list is the climax with its unrealistic solutions.
The narration of the plot too is overwhelmingly complicated. The crucial bits are relegated to a flashback or crammed in the last few minutes of the film. The camera work is shoddy and most transition scenes use a dissolve at best. The editing too is so badly done that we see the before and after of an accident but not the bike crash itself. Kannada cinema industry has increasingly taken to debating ‘modern day love’. But forget contributing to this debate sensibly, Preetiyinda creates its own nonsensical universe. The film heightens stereotypes of the ideal son, the lover and the idea of love itself. Far from earning applause, Preetiyinda is a distressing experience.
