Writer Padmabhushan Review
Suhas and the Chai Bisket team hit what looks like a definite six but are stopped at the boundary by relay fielders. Yet replays show the fielder stepped on the boundary rope during his final stop. Six! That is how it felt while watching the heartful Writer Padmabhushan.
The first half was breezy, and comical and hit all the right notes. The twist was hinted at in the trailer but it still had a minor twist to make it work again in the theater. The second half falters a little as it tries to piece together different parts and characters for the end finale. The end finale works but more because of the writing and the dialogues in those parts than any build-up to it.
Cast — Suhas aces his titular role and plays it superbly. Rohini as his mother and Aashish Vidyarthi as his father play their parts well. Tina as Sarika is a delight to watch while the actor playing Suhas’ friend looks like a talent to watch out for.
The music and background do a decent job required for the movie but can’t help but wonder how Viveg Sagar was able to elevate scenes with his experimental BGM in Ante Sundaraniki, Shekar Chandra plays safe.
Spoiler Discussion — The trailer hints about him not being a writer but the first twist of him not writing the same book is a good twist to that. It works as something unexpected. The second half though could have done away with the 2nd twist of finding a fake writer as it did not add any value except prolong the confusion. The same could have been achieved without the girl’s character and with more focus on him losing his way and not trying to be a writer. The film works because of its comedy and crucial scenes but it falters in crucial places to stop it from being a terrific movie. Suhas faltering his way and losing his original goal of writing is not displayed adequately. Subtle hints are given in his forgetting to take the pen from his mother but it’s not sufficiently established that he is losing his bigger goal. At no point in the first half is his self-confidence an issue and yet when he gets emotional with Sarika, he displays a lack of confidence in his writing. This may have resulted after reading the book written by someone else but again it is not established well enough to make the scene more involved for the audience. While the last twist of the original author being his mother works big time and Rohini’s speech is great, her efforts to make his son realize his potential come out confused in the approach she takes.
Yet, these are zoomed-in observations in an otherwise very good movie.
