K M Chaithanya's second Kannada film Suryakanthi is an unpretentious commercial film targeted at a larger audience unlike his first film Aa Dinagalu, which was based on a true incident.
Unfortunately his second film where the director treads a different path is not a well made commercial film. It is just that some of the elements found in commercial entertainers are part of this film and the director has overemphasized his focus on songs and action sequences.
Coming to the positives of the film, Chaithanya should be complimented for selecting perfect outdoors for the songs and action sequences though an important song Edheya Baagilu Thattadhe suffers from wrong placement. His choice of Regina as the heroine however is spot on.
Now for the negatives. The story does not have any fresh elements and the dialogues are just ordinary. The many incidents in the film will provide ample hints that story writer has been influenced by a couple of Telugu films. The film has many commercial elements, but the absence of comedy sequences makes the film drag midway.
Surprisingly even the talented artists selected for the film try to underplay the sequences that needed high voltage performance.
Chaithanya has somehow missed focusing on the reaction shots of artists including that of the hero in many sequences. The film's hero Chetan is shown in long shots in many decisive scenes, and many times, Chetan is seen with blank expressions. The lighting pattern adopted resembles that of Aa Dinagalu which sometimes distracts the attention of the viewers.
The story goes like this: Rohith is a contract killer employed by an international don, Stalin whose look alike is supposed to take over as the CEO of a big corporate firm. A mix up at the airport results in the rivals of Stalin killing the CEO. People connected to the firm take Rohith to their office instead. The head of the business organisation is impressed with Rohith and wants his daughter to marry him. But the girl dislikes Rohith and goes to her grandfather's place in Belgaum. Rohith follows her as per the instructions of his boss and makes efforts to solve the problems in the house.
Coming to the performances, it is Regina who is more impressive than Chetan. Regina is really cute and her bubbly expressions suit the role. She also looks attractive in the songs. Chetan should have been more expressive. Even his body language does not suit the character he plays. Hindi actor Ganesh Yadav is impressive but Nasser is off the mark. Ramakrishna and others have been type cast in their roles.
As mentioned earlier, H C Venu's outdoor images are visually strong. Ilayaraja is very good in creating the background score. His two song compositions Edheya Baagilu Thattadhe and Mouna Neenu have raised above the bar of excellence.
Chaithanya's Suryakanthi is worth a watch for Ilayaraja's work and superb outdoor shoot.
Rediff Rating: 
