Movie: 180
Rating: 2.5/5
Banners: Satyam Movies, Aghal Films
Cast: Siddarth, Nithya Menon, Priya Anand
Music: Sharreth Vasudevan
Cinematographer: Balasubramaniem
Editor: T E Kishore
Director: Jayendra
Producers: Kiran Reddy, Swarup Reddy, C Srikanth
Release date: 25/06/2011
Siddarth is back and this time he has teamed up with his mentor Jayendra for a bilingual. The presence of Priya Anand and Nithya Menon is the other attraction. Let us see what the numbered title is all about
Story
An unusual tale, the story begins with Ajay (Siddarth) who looks rather lost in life and finds new hope after visiting Kasi. He lands in Hyderabad and takes up a portion for six months.
Here, he comes across helping all right from his house owners to the paper boys and on the street grandmas. All this is noticed by Vidya (Nithya) who gets curious about Ajay’s mystery. In no time, she also falls in love with him.
However, Ajay has a past. A past that is associated with Renuka (Priya) in the USA. He also has a harsh fact of life that he is dealing with and that gets him to India. What is that fact? What is 180? Is Vidya successful in her love? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Sidz is back as the smart, suave gentleman who always tends to magnetize girls around. He carried the role well and though there were few jerks in the emotional sequences, he did a fine job.
Nithya Menon is a stunning looker onscreen. Her eyes, her smile and her natural ease in front of the camera make her adorable. She delivers her bit as required and scores points.
Priya Anand was chirpy as usual and there is a lot of energy and fun in her. She has balanced the cheerful part and the tragic part in the right scale. The glint in her eyes is appealing.
Mouli was witty and brought few smiles, it was good to see Geetha after a long time, Tanikella was brief, M S Narayana came and went, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan was matured, Janaki was natural. The actor doing Siddarth’s friend’s role was alright.
Highlights
- Visual grandeur
- Ee Vayasika Radhu song picturization
- Last twenty minutes
- Nithya, Priya’s performances
- Technical aspects
Drawbacks
- Slow pace
- Weak emotional quotient
- Complicated twists
- Directorial flaws
Analysis
6 months..that is 180 days. That forms the theme of the story. You have to see what those 180 days are!!! But at the end, you may catch up 180 degrees fever for not zeroing the film convincingly.
The film gathered some curiosity when it came with an unusual title and it was not until the first stills came in that folks got an idea. Anyways, it must be said that the debutante director has proved his mettle as a technician but as a story teller, there are few hiccups. Firstly, adding multiple tracks at different emotional levels tends to disturb the consistency.
It also fails to get the audience into the film and connect with the story. There is a vintage appeal in the first half and one would expect a rather conventional and emotional ending but then, the director changes the plan to a practical level. Yes, what the protagonist has done may be right in the practical sense, but is it humanly possible? Also, not to reveal the plot, Siddarth’s approach towards dealing a problem is rather surprising given the fact that he is a doctor.
The American Yamadharmaraju (Grim Weaper) symbolism confuses the audience. Priya Anand's mimicry also went over dose.
As such, the film has been dealt with in a psychological and philosophical aspect but given the mindset of the Indian audience, it remains to be seen how much they will accept the ending. Mixed reactions are bound to come from the viewers for this.
At the box office, the film has a good chance of an average grosser but getting into profits would require aggressive publicity and positive word of mouth.
Bottomline: Full length film with an ad feel
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected])
