Kannada Movie Review - PRITHVI

DIRECTOR: Jacob Varghese
ACTORS: Puneeth Rajkumar, Parvathi, Avinash, CR Simha, Achyuth Kumar

For the first time, kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar essays a role where his character gets to say something about current issues. Prithvi portrays the struggle of a honest bureaucrat against the corrupt mining lords of Bellary. Loaded dialogues, breathtaking stunts and eerily realistic depiction of situations sets the foundation for what could have been an awesome film. Unfortunately, in the second half of the film, only the stunts remain and the film rushes to a hurried climax. Nonetheless Prithvi has enough ammunition to more than satisfy his fans.

Prithvi, (Puneeth) like any good on-screen hero, is the embodiment of truthfulness. He is an IAS officer who is dispatched as the DC of Bellary in a jiffy. Now, it does not need a film to tell what Bellary is famous for these days. But Jacob tells it anyway with enough cinematic masala. A mining lord who controls the state politics, runs it like a fiefdom, altering state borders and killing people at will. Prithvi’s clean up task is unenviable.

Some witty (‘Every son-of-the-soil cannot become the prime minister’) and charged dialogues (‘After 40 years of politics wearing shorts, I have to listen to some outsider’) add the necessary punch to the story. To make the narrative realistic, the director makes the film look like a documentation which partly fails the purpose for what could have been an insightful entertainer. A bold conclusion eludes the film and easy machismo finds the answer for all the troubles of Bellary. Jacob does a good job but Puneeth’s ‘power star’ image building exercise in the latter half of the film somewhat dilutes the effectiveness of Prithvi.

Puneeth and Parvathi share great chemistry but their interaction throughout this film is repetitive. Puneeth is never out of any scene. He seems to be there in almost every frame making the other characters look like far flung specs of mining dust. Prithvi is still worth a watch. Fans can look forward to multiple viewing.