'Gamanam' hit the screens today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box office release.

Story:

Kamala (Shriya Saran) is a mother working in a small factory. It has been a year since her husband migrated to Dubai to work as a driver. Kamala expects him to come back. Ali (Shiva Kandukuri) is a talented cricketer vying to make it big in the Ranji Trophy and play for India internationally one day. Zara (Priyanka Jawalkar) is his girlfriend. Two homeless kids crave a cake so as to celebrate their unknown birthday. Each of these characters has to tide over a common crisis in the second half. There are also problems that they face individually.

Analysis:

The film was expected to engage the audience with a hyperlink screenplay. What is in store in the film is an anthology-type narration that is barely philosophical and definitely not intriguing.

One story cuts to another story abruptly and too frequently in the first half. There are stretches without/minimal dialogues. When a calamity strikes, an Osho-type wanderer is introduced suddenly and taken away from the screenplay at short notice. We are supposed to derive metaphorical or allegorical meaning from the fact that the orphans have to sell the idols of a God to realize an innocent dream.

'Gamanam', as opposed to destination, literally means trajectory. The journey is not emotionally cathartic for the audience even when the characters are faced with an acid test. Charu Haasan makes as much impact as Bithiri Sathi (which may be a compliment, considering Sathi's talent). We feel for the destitute kids savouring samosas, but we don't feel for the Ali-Zara duo who are placed amid a sea of cliches and stock characters. They themselves are stock characters, by the way.

From Varu Inturi of 'Amrutham' fame (who plays an insensitive factory owner) to the typical motivational coach (predictably played by Ravi Prakash), everyone is predictable in the movie. Suhas plays Ali's friend. He is there to explain basic truths (such as bribery in the field of sports) to the lead actor.

One wonders why a character with a physical disability has to always be dull in our movies. Why can't Kamala be naughty or talkative? Did she have to be a woman of few words?

The second half comes undone by a sub-par staging of the natural disaster. VS Ganansekhar's cinematography doesn't save the day, neither does Maestro Ilaiyaraja's music. Nithya Menen pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan with a smile on her face. She, however, doesn't put a smile on our faces.

The performances are just passable. There are no memorable stretches of acting in the movie.

Verdict:

'Gamanam' is a 114-minute-long superficial drama.