Director Srinivasa Raju's much-delayed Kannada film Nannavanu is a rebirth drama that fails to give lead actor Prajwal Devraj his much needed break.
The story revolves around Sanjana (Aindrita Ray), who approaches struggling lawyer Bharadwaj (Prajwal) to fight her case. The girl having remembered that she was murdered in her previous birth wants to seek justice now. She zeros in on Prajwal because he was her lover in the previous birth and offers him a Rs 50 crore fee even if he loses. Her charges are against the current chief minister and then MLA played by Avinash. No guesses for who wins the case.
What makes this film even more of a stressful experience is the dragging storyline. The film is loaded with many unwanted flashbacks. Illogically placed comic sequences are the other drawback, though comedian Komal does a good job. Innumerable songs further test your patience. It would have been worse if had it not been for Illayaraja's compositions. Dattu's camerawork is also appealing in various scenes.
Prajwal gets to shed his action hero image with Nannavanu and does a decent job. He is better off in the second half though. Aindrita is okay.
Nannavanu fails to recreate the magic of some of the recent rebirth-oriented scripts like Magadheera. It can definitely be avoided.
Rediff Rating: 
