Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) movie review rating: Three and half stars out of five
In the current race to engage cinema and OTT audiences with offbeat stories, director and co-writer Hemanth M. Rao pulls off an against-the-tide stunning romantic Kannada drama with Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A), translated to ‘Somewhere Beyond the Seven Seas.’
The story
What is the nature of love and attachment in a merciless city? A city where money pays for your dreams, and the lack of money leaves you unfulfilled.
Manu (Rakshit Shetty) and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) are lovers living out lower middle-class dreams. Priya is an aspiring singer, while Manu is a driver at a business tycoon’s house. They plan to marry soon and own a house. For Priya, who dearly misses giving up her seaside childhood for city life, the sea is her heartbeat. At a point she tells Manu, that he is her sea now.
A string of incidents leads to the couple getting separated from each other. Will Manu and Priya find their seashore together?
Greek tragedy echoes
Echoes of Shakespearean tragedies, epic Greek mythologies, immortal love legends light up this star-crossed romance. Objects, colours blend into the storyline, even as a superb Rukmini Vasanth sparkles with vivid emoting. Rakshit Shetty is good as the naïve, simple-minded lover. Shetty could have upped the intensity of what he goes through.
Vasanth is particularly spectacular in intense scenes, her face a canvas of emotions, even as love takes a toll on her life. The ensemble cast is good too. Ramesh Indira as the sadistic Soma is adequately dark.
Never have door colours, skylines, wall paint, reflections, sunlight, kitchen objects, and airplanes reflecting in washing water looked so heartachingly poetic. Priya dressed in a sky-blue dress and a white dupatta walking down her native seashore, draped like a wandering cloud hovering over clear sky. Poetry in motion.
The prison loom works as a great symbolism and the part about audio tape players and audio cassettes is beautifully done. The realism in the prison scenes powers the narrative, but for a tolerably done fight scene.
Editing, background score, music and cinematography
Advaitha Gurumurthy’s cinematography gets the profiles, colours and lighting in lovely frames. But for one abrupt edit transition, the editing by Sunil S. Bharadwaj and Hemanth M. Rao is sharp and thoughtful. Charan Raj’s soundtrack is good, the background score is good too, if not great.
Direction, writing
Hemanth M. Rao directs with an assured hand. Love how he treats a prime accident scene without anything overtly dramatic, where nine out of ten directors would have heightened the scene with slow-motion or a dramatic background score. This is a rare touch, conveying that life just happens. Along with writer Gundu Shetty, Rao builds solid side characters. The writers display believable motivations and context to the plot.
The not so cool parts
On the flip side, some beats of this romantic drama seem predictable. The beats of the doomed love story are familiar. I could see the main plot points coming from a distance. It is the director’s treatment that sets it apart.
The end prelude to Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side B) is too much of a reveal. Should they be giving so much away?
Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A) review
Despite the déjà vu of millions of love stories told before, applause to director Hemanth M. Rao to pull off a tight, at times stunning, wonderfully poetic romance drama.
Hopefully Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side B) will be a satisfying round up of the love saga. The trailer suggests it will be a violent dark spurned-love drama. We hope it will be more than that – That the makers finish off well what they have started well of this engaging romantic drama.
