Young filmmaker Ritesh Rana’s Happy Birthday featuring Lavanya Tripathi, Vennela Kishore, Sathya, Naresh Agastya in the lead roles has hit the silver screen today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: The film opens with the defence minister Rithvik Sodhi( Vennela Kishore) passing a gun amendment bill in the parliament. As the government has legalized gun usage in the country, public start purchasing variety model guns in the market. This is the time, Happy( Lavanya Tripathi) comes to Ritz Grand hotel to celebrate her birthday. What kind of unexpected incidents will Happy undergo in the hotel? What kind of twists and turns will Happy witness in the hotel premises? How is a diamond coated lighter interconnected with the proceedings, forms the main USB.
Performances: Lavanya Tripathi perfectly fitted in her role as a girl with crazy thoughts. Her charm and glamorous screen presence bring fresh vibe to the film. The way she showcased variance in her multi-dimensional character is definitely an added advantage for the film.
Comedian Satya evokes hilarious fun in his key role as a guy who will do anything for money. His appearance and typical mannerisms instantly clicks. Senapathi fame Naresh Agastya did his prominent role with utmost dedication.
Vennela Kishore as a defence minister with peculiar mindset is fine in his role. The supporting artists who did key roles gave decent performances.
Technicalities: The cinematography by Suresh Sarangam is good as he tried to present the entire film on a colourful note with his rich framing and lighting setup. Music by Kaala Bhairava is okay. While his songs are completely disappointing, the background registers well.
The editing work by Karthika Srinivas is not upto the mark as he would have chopped off a few dull episodes in both the halves for a better viewing experience. The setup created, production design, VFX and graphics work are done perfectly. The production values are visible on screen.
Analysis: The idea of exploring surreal comedy concept is good and the premises created for it is also fine but the director Ritesh Rana would have worked more on writing an engaging screenplay. Due to the negligence in writing department, the entire proceedings look artificial and dilute the audience mood.
Adding to it, the shot division and unengaging narrative with lack of character detailing also come as a major defect for the film. To summerize, Happy Birthday is a comedy crime drama that has a couple of fun moments but slow-paced execution and aimless proceedings come a major demerit for the film.
Verdict: Complicated comedy!
Rating: 2/5
