Feel-good film with stellar performances
‘Marriages are made in heaven’ is a saying that might be defunct. These are the days of live-in relationships and compatibility tests between couples which may be followed by marriage if everything fits into their life spectrums. Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna, an Aha exclusive film defies age-old theories of marriage and presents a mature perspective about wedlock.
Story
Bhanumathi (Salony Luthra) is a 30-year old single, independent working woman with a lucrative job. She is dealing with a recent breakup with Ram (Raj Chembolu) who dumps her after getting annoyed with her apprehensions about life.
Ramakrishna (Naveen Chandra), a 33 year old unmarried, naïve, and conservative man with middle-class background, lands up in his maiden job in Hyderabad where he reports to Bhanumathi.
Initially, Bhanu gets averse to Ramakrishna due to his shyness and inability to communicate in English. As days go by, Bhanu warms up his warm and friendly nature and starts thinking more about him.
The remaining story is all about how they understand each other and tread along exploring compatibility and compassion while gradually shedding their fears, inhibitions, and vulnerabilities to discover new avenues of life.
Performances
Luthra is spot on as Bhanumathi. Her body language, emotions, and suppressed feelings are very well portrayed and captured. The voice lent by Veena Ghantasala to her is an added asset.
Naveen Chandra is one actor who is capable of pulling off any character with great ease and perfection. He goes skin deep into the character of Ramakrishna and it’s a delight to watch his remarkable performance.
Viva Harsha as Bunty who lives in a fantasy world building castles in the air has enlivened the proceedings with his trademark expressions that lighten up the narrative.
Devyani Sharma and Ajay as Hindi speaking live-in couple Isha and Manish have done well emphasizing the current trend in the world of relationships.
Positives
This film belongs to the director and writer Srikanth Nagothi who have handled all the departments quite admirably. The essence of relationships is explored and especially the evolvement of chemistry between the lead pair is presented in a superlative manner which enhances the prime concept of the story. Srikanth has done a brilliant job in this aspect without any confusion or aberrations.
Editing by multitasking expert, Ravikanth Perepu (who directed recently premiered Krishna And His Leela) is perfect and it’s quite evident that the film is trimmed to make it shorter with total run time of 93 minutes to suit the OTT audience. This adds much more sleekness to the film, making it watchable as well as enjoyable due to the flow and fluency in the narrative.
Background score by Achu Rajamani, a couple of heart touching tunes by Sravan Bharadwaj and eye-pleasing cinematography by Sai Prakash Ummadisingu are other positive aspects of this film.
Negatives
Not many add to the negatives except those involving live-in couple speaking in Hindi. The logic behind this is not understandable. Is it to prove that only Hindi speaking people are progressive and prone to live-in relationships or something else? It’s not a negative point but mainly an observation.
Worth it?
Watch it with an open mind without drawing any comparisons or parallels. Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna is an enjoyable, clean and neat film with an aura of feel-good spread all over. Moreover, a strong message is sent through this film that OTT platforms are not dumping grounds for rejected or unsuccessful films.
