Over enthusiastic director Rathnaja in his third combination with good pal Ajay Gowda as producer has fed in excess for the audience. In the process he consumes more than three hours to say three things in a nutshell - Love, Friendship and Sacrifice.
The brilliance of the director is appreciable but not the consumption of time. Such a long screenplay especially in the summer is a punishment. This flick could have been pruned by half an hour so that it becomes more crisp, tidy and treat to watch. From Nenapirali to Honganasu and now in `Premism' the style adopted by director Rathnaja is quite different although some of the scenes are repetitive for the audience.
The redeeming features of this passable film are the narration, good songs, fine cinematography and tolerable performance from everyone connected to the film.
Son of head constable Varun (Varun), son of Police commissioner Nithin (Chetan Chandra) are at loggerheads from their childhood. They fall in love with the same girl Amoolya D Souza (Amoolya) who is the sister of Traffic Inspector. After a few fisticuffs the intelligent Varun and Nithin decide to put before the love affair directly to Traffic Inspector so that the traffic hazard in love is cleared.
What is wrong in two persons falling in love with one girl is the question they ask but Traffic inspector says there is a possibility of his sister falling in love with a third boy. That leads Varun and Nithin coming straight to Amoolya to put their proposal. Amoolya narrates a different tale for them that take us to Belgaum. In this flashback a street smart Prasanna (Sunil Rao) is in love with Amoolya. After progressing in life leaving to foreign country Prasanna ditches Amoolya is what we know in the narration.
But the fact is something else we know in the deceiving tactics applied by the director. Amoolya wanted to prove what her brother told to Varun and Nithin. So she stitches a story to her whims and fancies to get rid of both Varun and Nithin. When she talks to her brother we again find something else in the mind of Amoolya.
Amoolya as usual looks sweet but in some of the scenes she looks pale. Chetan Chandra and Varun are OK, Avinash, Ananthnag, Ninasam Ashwath are very decent in their performance. Sunil Rao steals the show in the second half of the film.
The music scored by Hamsalekha is another highlight of the film. Arashina Kumkuma Shobithe..Line hodi..Sagamapanisa..are lovely songs. Three cameramen have worked for this film - Sheetal Jain, Ananth Urs and Gnanamurthy - the camera work is splendid throughout the film.
This is worth watching by lovers and friends!
Scoring 8/10
