The reality show host, television anchor Ohmkkar makes his debut as a director with a subject that is serious and highly dramatic and made with a straight message ‘be a leader; do not create one’. The story writer Chinni Krishna thankfully avoids a grandiose and a complicated plot and opts for a simpler storyone can relate to. He throws a satire at film stars, how they use their fans to get popular and do nothing to help them even if it is someone who is very close and known to them, confining their charity and rhetoric to television channels. There is a cricketer who walks with his hands in his pockets and is suspended for match fixing and a fading politician who uses student power to revive his fortune and future.
Now the three college students, blinded by their love for their ‘stars’ — the cricketer, film star and politician — are oblivious to their limitations. So when they get to see their favourite idols stoop, they cannot tolerate it and take on the onus to wipe out the malaise from the society. What is outrageous and incomprehensible is not the message given to youth but the method adopted to convey their feelings. The three men kill their idols and shoot themselves; in a ridiculous move the last one even videographs the death of the first two. A dramatic twist in the story might have worked aeons earlier but there has to be something else to change the mindset of the contemporary generation.
The story writer or the director may not be advocating people taking law into their hands and killing themselves later, but we wonder how logical is the plot. If a film star doesn’t pay for the medical expenses of a fan who lost a limb while garlanding his cut out, can he be judged, blackmailed and killed? In an effort to intersperse commercial elements with a message, the purpose is lost. The film is technically impressive, but the screenplay is erratic and confusing.
Prime characters in the story have been wasted as the director did not draw out convincing performances from his actors. What was Brahmanandam trying to do? Paruchuri Brothers are the one bright spot in the story that holds the film. Havish has the looks, height and potential but he disappoints here and should choose a better story and an established director. Sanusha is tailor made for the role.
One expected Ohmkkar to come up with a better conclusion to the story. This has an ambitious title but doesn’t quite require a Genius to direct it.
GENIUS
Cast: Havish, Sanusha
Music: Joshua Sridhar
Direction: Ohmkkar
Genre: Social Drama
Plot: Three youngsters kill their idols and shoot themselves
Bottomline: A good message turns into a bromidic sermon