The problem with watching well-staged movies is that they spoil you for life. At some stage, the sage bursts into English: “The best is yet to come!” I believed him. The film begins with a sage (I’m presuming it's Veda Vyasa) sitting with Lord Ganesha (with a very cute swaying trunk, yes I noticed even that!) and speaking about a Balu on earth, who wants to be both SP Balu and Ilaiyaraaja. In between, there are extremely profound lines with zero impact. And please, drunken driving is not funny, even if it is to tell your crush something of zero importance. The ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look is passé too. One of those youthful leads has since stepped into middle age and this ‘suddenly falling in love’ business does not cut much ice. When it was released a decade-and-a-half ago, Mungaru Male (2006) still charmed, thanks to its music and youthful leads. Like smelling a sari and knowing what colour it is! I’m not speaking much about the women, because they truly are one-note characters, rarely questioning anything, even when it sounds absolutely absurd to the ears. Throw in some Sadhu Kokila comedy, where he’s body shamed (predictably), some songs (‘Premakke Kannilla’ composed by Judah Sandhy is my pick), some Mungaru Male references and you have a film that needed more work even at the scripting stage. Some scenes might remind you of a badly-remade Andhadhun, but even that is an insult to the original.
He’s introduced to Nakshatra (Nishvika, who is quite effective), a teacher at a school for children with disabilities, who likes him. Parallely, there’s a murder and Balu is the prime eye (or ear) witness. An orchestra singer Balu (Ganesh doing Ganesh things) wants to enter a reality show because he likes the anchor Mayuri (Surbhi) a lot, and so pretends to be blind. The story of the film can be compressed into three lines. Is it comedy? Is it a love story? Or a stalker’s story? Or a courtroom drama? Or an investigative tale? To ensure they are protected on all counts, the film begins with a voiceover from Ganesh, requesting people to not file any case against the film or the team that made it. That was the only time I laughed or even smiled, trust me, during the entire duration of a film that does not know what genre it belongs to.