The trailblazer of Kannada cinema V.Ravichandran trail behind in 'Hatavadhi'. Lack of good story is the main bottleneck of this film of Sandesh Combines. Ravichandran shouldering lot of responsibilities has preoccupied himself in other areas. Thus in an effort to secure a good story he miserably fails. Another shortfall of this film is the technique. Normally Ravichandran films are very good in technique. But from the title card he has not taken care. This film has the shade of Amitabh Bachchan's 'Majboor' Tamil films 'Payanangal Mudivadhile' and 'Mugavar'.
Poverty stricken youth Balu (Ravichandran) in the village has ample care and courage from his mother. His mother injects courage and confidence in him at the young age. She teaches him that he should not run away from the tasks and bog down in life. Achievement should be the goal in his life. She sends him to city to make a big name. In the city he does not get the proper care but in a colony of houses he finds the affection through his helping nature. He saves a boy from the road accident and the rush of vehicles on the road makes Balu to fall unconscious. In the hospital he is treated reveal that he is affected with brain tumor. Now Balu is very depressed and his struggle for achievement is going waste on the other side. On sympathy he gets the chance to express his talent but faces a big insult on two occasions. He proves that he is an effortless singer before he succumbs to death.
In between the lady love Amisha (Radhika) falls in love with him and he is the undisclosed friend for her. Balu a telephone friend of Amisha never discloses that he is her friend when he meets her quite often. Struck in middle whether to love her or just to keep her friendship Balu selects the latter. He helps her to overcome the problems in her life like how he helps scores of others in his colony.
The saving grace in the film is the songs. Four out of eight songs are very well captured on screen and composed in the recording theatre. The breathless song Neena Naana.., by Shanker Mahadevan suits the occasion. It is superb. The same zeal Ravichandran had maintained in the selection of story it would have been different. He makes this his autobiography at places.
In the supporting role it is Doddanna who captures the attention for his emotion filled role. Padmaja as the mother of Ravichandran is very artificial in dialogue delivery. Ramesh Bhat, Sharan, Chitra Shenoy, Rekha Das give good support.
Photography of GSV Seetharam is at his usual best. The outdoor, indoor and capturing the color splashing on the screen Seetharam has done tremendous job.
For melodious songs and beautiful photography you can watch this film once.
Scoring - 6/10
