JOIN USThe Great Story of Soda Buddi
Kannada (A) Cast: Uthpal Gowda, Anusha Ranganath, Kushi, Achyut Kumar, Jyothi, Rangayana Raghu
Director: Jyothi Rao Mohit
Helmed by an aspiring debutant and played by an ambitious star, The Great Story of Soda Buddi belies facile description. A collage of art house and commercial elements, Soda Buddi turns a bit tedious.
Made solely to give wings to son Uthpal Gowda’s filmi ambitions, the movie is a tale of two romances, divided between the first and second half. Director Mohit employs a film-within-film concept to narrate the two strands of love stories.
The first romance between Soda Buddi and Anusya is fiery and feisty, with the two love birds literally kicking ass over chicken legs and liquor bottles. The second between Soda Buddi and a docile Bhagya blooms and blossoms across windows of their respective apartments, through mime, eye contacts, bells, and notebook scribbles. How the two romances pan out forms the rest of Soda Buddi which ends with an interesting twist in the climax.
Though Mohit shows he is adept at film-making, he fails to ensure that Soda Buddi is engaging.
He vacillates between downright drama and technically polished production fare, justifying the end-credit which states “it is a film by technicians.” Yes, Soda Buddi, turns out to be a triumph of technique over simple story telling and in that lies the film’s flaw.
Debutants Uthpal, Anusha and Kushi show promise in their respective roles. Rangayana Raghu is the pits, hideous as the drunkard father.
Background score by Mithun and cinematography by Harish Nayak add fizz to the film. If editor Girish was allowed to trim the film from its unwieldy 154 minutes, Soda Buddi could have turned itself into a “great story” as its title touts.