Endendigu (Kannada)
Director: Imran Sardhariya
Cast: Radhika Pandit, Ajai Rao
With elegant cinematography and competent performances, Endendigu is refreshing break from the current spate of films in Kannada. However, it stops a tad bit short of becoming an even better film. It is a tale of premonition trying its best to dodge fate.
To pursue Krishna’s dream of developing a software application that will benefit farmers in India, Jyothi and Krishna move to Sweden after their wedding. All is well until Jyothi has a nightmare about a series of events in a day that end in Krishna’s death.
She begins to take solace in the fact that it was only a nightmare until those same events eerily repeat themselves. The rest of the film is about Jyothi’s attempt to thwart destiny.
It is Radhika who carries the film on her shoulders, with Ajai supporting her with sickly sweet dialogues every now and then. One cannot but notice that the storyline is a copy of Gil Junger’s If Only (2004) or its more recent Hindi copy, Ru Ba Ru (2008).
The only difference, an unnecessary one, that Endendigu brings to the plot is a role for Goddess Devi. Explaining the reason behind Jyothi’s forewarning dream, the family astrologer says that it is because the powers of the divine are invested in her.
Safe ending
Therefore, instead of the hard-hitting and heart-breaking conclusions of both If Only and Ru Ba Ru , Endendigu has a safe, easy-to-digest resolution (basically, no one dies). And, as morose as it sounds, it is there that the film stops short of becoming a superior film.
The camera work definitely stands out. The two action sequences featuring Ajai do not add anything to the film but surely test the audience’s patience. Songs are pleasant but seem to have a strange timing in the plot.
They successfully delay the thrill of the plot and seem repetitive. One leaves the theatre feeling slightly disappointed that the plot miraculously ironed out its differences. If only, it hadn’t.
