An effort to please the audience of all the 4 languages perhaps didn't work in the movie's favor.
Rating : 2.75/5
Tagline : Lengthy love story
Tagline : Lengthy love story
Vijay Devarakonda is the current heart-throb of the Tollywood youth who's slowly growing his roots into other industries with each movie. He chooses this love story of Dear Comrade to set strong footprints in the Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada film industries as well. He chooses Bharat Kamma's story for his second stint with Rashmika. Let's see how this movie came out.
Chaitanya alias Bobby is the leader of student union for his college in Kakinada who happens to be an impulsive character. He goes along the footprints of his grandfather who was also a comrade back in the day always standing behind what he felt was correct. Aparna Devi alias Lilly (Rashmika) is a state cricketer who’s a relation to Bobby’s neighbors and comes from Hyderabad to Kakinada for a marriage and meets Bobby. They both fall in love after seeing each other a few days but Lilly fears the impulsive nature of Bobby since she has already lost a brother who gets killed in a university fight. She leaves Bobby for the same reason. What happens to Bobby post Lilly and will they ever meet? If they do, under what circumstances? Is Bobby still the angry young man whom Lilly left? Will they end up with each other forms the story of Dear Comrade.
Vijay as Bobby has given another outstanding performance. He has reached a stage as an actor where it is given that people expect his performance to be flawless and he has done just that. Rashmika as Lilly is a real delight to watch. She went makeupless in the movie for the most part and her dubbing was really good. The newcomers who acted as Bobby’s friends in college gave decent performances especially Chai Bisket fame Suhas. He has a very natural accent which is catchy. Shruti Ramachandran as Lilly’s sister was impressive. All other characters gave decent performances.
First half had so many shades of an angry Arjun Reddy in Bobby’s characterization. It is completely shot in the backdrop of Kakinada with a local nativity. It’s an engaging first half with a sweet love story amidst the college chaos surrounding Bobby. The love story had the good feel of Sakhi around it and with all the friends gang involving in all the fights, it brings back memories of Premam as well. But it has it's own cute little scenes. The interval comes with the conflict point of Bobby’s aggression in the love story.
The second half feels like a new movie altogether. It shows how much Bobby has changed his life and the tragedy that struck Lilly. For 2 hrs, the audience would have the love story feels which is where the director Bharat Kamma introduces a second conflict point which is actually not in the love story but something which has a good message. This episode is rather brought into the movie a tad too late as it stretches the movie for quite a long time. The climax is predictable but sends a strong social message.
Coming to the technicalities of the movie, the director Bharat Kamma has done a decent job in his debut movie. It sure didn't feel like he was a debutant. The only care he could have taken a little was increase the pace of the movie a little in the start if he actually had another important message to convey. The cinematography of Sujit Sarang was very neat. He has captured the Kakinada vibe in the first half to good effect. The background score of Justin for the love story was so pleasant and the music was pleasing as well. It is pretty clear from the movie that to please the audience of all the 4 languages, the run time was extended than required but all in all, if you are a fan of love stories, this one gives you a good feel for the most part of the movie but falls apart in the second half.
- Chaitanya Somavajhala (@ChaitanSrk)
Chaitanya alias Bobby is the leader of student union for his college in Kakinada who happens to be an impulsive character. He goes along the footprints of his grandfather who was also a comrade back in the day always standing behind what he felt was correct. Aparna Devi alias Lilly (Rashmika) is a state cricketer who’s a relation to Bobby’s neighbors and comes from Hyderabad to Kakinada for a marriage and meets Bobby. They both fall in love after seeing each other a few days but Lilly fears the impulsive nature of Bobby since she has already lost a brother who gets killed in a university fight. She leaves Bobby for the same reason. What happens to Bobby post Lilly and will they ever meet? If they do, under what circumstances? Is Bobby still the angry young man whom Lilly left? Will they end up with each other forms the story of Dear Comrade.
Vijay as Bobby has given another outstanding performance. He has reached a stage as an actor where it is given that people expect his performance to be flawless and he has done just that. Rashmika as Lilly is a real delight to watch. She went makeupless in the movie for the most part and her dubbing was really good. The newcomers who acted as Bobby’s friends in college gave decent performances especially Chai Bisket fame Suhas. He has a very natural accent which is catchy. Shruti Ramachandran as Lilly’s sister was impressive. All other characters gave decent performances.
First half had so many shades of an angry Arjun Reddy in Bobby’s characterization. It is completely shot in the backdrop of Kakinada with a local nativity. It’s an engaging first half with a sweet love story amidst the college chaos surrounding Bobby. The love story had the good feel of Sakhi around it and with all the friends gang involving in all the fights, it brings back memories of Premam as well. But it has it's own cute little scenes. The interval comes with the conflict point of Bobby’s aggression in the love story.
The second half feels like a new movie altogether. It shows how much Bobby has changed his life and the tragedy that struck Lilly. For 2 hrs, the audience would have the love story feels which is where the director Bharat Kamma introduces a second conflict point which is actually not in the love story but something which has a good message. This episode is rather brought into the movie a tad too late as it stretches the movie for quite a long time. The climax is predictable but sends a strong social message.
Coming to the technicalities of the movie, the director Bharat Kamma has done a decent job in his debut movie. It sure didn't feel like he was a debutant. The only care he could have taken a little was increase the pace of the movie a little in the start if he actually had another important message to convey. The cinematography of Sujit Sarang was very neat. He has captured the Kakinada vibe in the first half to good effect. The background score of Justin for the love story was so pleasant and the music was pleasing as well. It is pretty clear from the movie that to please the audience of all the 4 languages, the run time was extended than required but all in all, if you are a fan of love stories, this one gives you a good feel for the most part of the movie but falls apart in the second half.
- Chaitanya Somavajhala (@ChaitanSrk)