This film had most of us eagerly awaiting its release. Now that it's here, we're not too sure we should have waited that long. L Romal M Singh and Manju Shettar review the film for The Guide

This film had most of us eagerly awaiting its release. Now that it's here, we're not too sure we should have waited that long. L Romal M Singh and Manju Shettar review the film for The Guide

Suryakanti is definitely one of the better releases in the last few months, but the overall product seems hopelessly disappointing. While we loved Regina as Kanti and only want to tell the pretty lass, that we're dying to see her again, we're still not very convinced about Chetan.

The cinematography is patchy, with fabulously shot scenes alternating to repeated 'set' scenes that we've seen in far too many Kannada films already. My partner at the screening could actually place several shots to older films, all through this feature. We must however appreciate the scenes in Belgaum that reveled in the rural beauty of the area.

Kudos to the other characters for making the film worth watching, especially the elder couple playing Regina's grandparents (Nasser and Kishori). We were also very impressed by Ramakrishna as Appa Saheb and the cameo by Pathy Iyer was quite the surprise.

The story is interesting but could have been handled better as a narrative. It follows the complications in the life of Surya and Rohit, two look-alikes who switch lives after a fatal blast at the BIAL. Rohit escapes and leads the life of Surya. Regina plays the love interest, initially repelled by the suave Surya. She prefers a man with more worldly ways and Rohit in Surya's skin proves to her that Surya can be the man of her dreams. Rohit's past however haunts him and in a strange twist of fate, his past meets his present in Regina. The rest of the story is about Rohit saving Regina and assuring a new future for himself.

The climax is exciting and the fight sequences, passable, but we're pretty sure Chetan has so much more to him. Watch the movie once -- it's entertaining, but don't go with any expectations. You'll be disappointed.
L Romal M Singh

Director Chaitanya's second film Suryakanti seems extremely predictable, even though he has tried to play around as much as he could with an obvious bland script. His attempts at giving it the time-tested and tried commercial touchups also seem to have failed. What really made the film extremely annoying was the predictability. We were able to guess every scene before it even began, including the climax!

Regina has given an outstanding performance and done justice to her role. We love her bubbly self and it adds a certain magic that the film otherwise lacked. Chetan, on the other hand, could have done better. Venu's camera work however, is outstanding.

The rural back drop resembled a mega serial for some unknown reason and Enagi Nataraj and Kishori Ballal overacted quite a bit. The music is not bad, but nothing was good enough to be remembered even at the end of the film. The background score was apt, but lacked character in several places.
The film is watchable but is definitely not a must-see.
Manju Shettar

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