By V.S. Rajapur
Film: “Kallara Santhe”; Director: Sumana Kiththoor; Cast: Yesh, Hari Priya, Rangayana Raghu; Music: V. Manohar; Rating: **1/2

Sumana Kiththoor’s “Kallara Santhe” is a socio-political satire, which makes a critical assessment of the loopholes in the system. And many incidents in the film relate to recent political developments in Karnataka.

The film written by Agni Sridhar is able to expose the political duplicity in administration through many sequences and dialogues.

The movie, however, has not been able to provide an objective view of the political situation. The film gives the impression that all human beings are good, except for politicians.

Another weak point is that it is low on entertainment value though it makes you think and introspect.

The powerful and hard-hitting dialogues of Agni Sridhar are clearly one of the highlights of “Kallara Santhe”.

Sumana Kiththoor was certainly better as a director in her first film “Slum Bala”. In her second venture “Kallara santhe”, Sumana goes a few notches down in her work. The film is less in cinematic content, though it’s script is good.

She should have taken care to raise the level of the technical work to the existing standards seen in the Kannada film industry. Even music director Manohar lends little help to her, except for composing a good song in “Kaledhuhodha Kaaliputava”.

The film is about an educated unemployed youth turning into an auto driver but finding several bottlenecks in his attempts to lead an honest and peaceful life. And then he threatens to commit suicide.

The youth’s suicide attempt grabs the attention of the state administration even as the media tries to find out the reasons behind his decision.

Then the protagonist makes five demands and one personal demand, which will be granted by the chief minister. How these demands are met is in itself a drama of farcical self interests and political manoeuvres.

Yesh has worked hard to make the best of what has been offered to him in “Kallara Santhe”. Hari Priya lends grace to the film. She is good in comedy also. Rangayana Raghu sticks to his typical acting style and his dialogue-delivery, laced with comical modulation, is sure to entertain audiences. Kishor and Shobharaj make a good cameo appearance in the film.

“Kallara Santhe” is a film that will evoke a few laughs and set you thinking as well.