Trivikrama movie review: Sahana Murthy’s launchpad for Vikram Ravichandran is quite the disaster

1.5/5

Story: It’s love at first sight on one rainy day for Vikram (Vikram Ravichandran), when he chances upon Trisha (Akanksha Sharma). All’s well for the young couple, until peace and non-violence loving Trisha realizes that Vikram has a violent streak in him. Is their love strong enough to surmount this obstacle?

Review: It must be hard being a star kid, especially if your father/mother was/is quite popular and has a certain image. Manu and Vikram Ravichandran, the sons of Crazy Star V Ravichandran, come to the industry with that baggage. Much as they’d like to show the world themselves for who they are, there is no shaking off the surname. It’s a truth they live with; the problem is that filmmakers who work with them do not seem to be able to look beyond the surname. Instead of allowing these star kids to soar and prove themselves their wings are clipped with films that have tales as old as time.

While Manu Ravichandran is already a few films old and still struggling to find a foothold in the Kannada industry, Vikram forays into Sandalwood today with Trivikrama. And boy do we wish he’d chosen better. The film directed by Sahana Murthy has absolutely nothing new to offer other than the lead pair. Unfortunately, even that is not worth a mention because not even a single emotion makes it effectively to debutante Akanksha Sharma face. The only time she lights up is during the song-and-dance sequences. There is literally zilch chemistry between her and Vikram.

For what it is worth, one must say that Vikram at least tries to make an impression – he nails some, misses a few others, but as a first-time effort, it’s a promising show. If only his efforts were in a better film. I wonder if director Sahana Murthy knew that his wafer-thin plot would be ripped apart if he released a trailer prior to the film hitting theatres.

Trivikrama has way too many songs; in fact, at one point in the second half, when the Shakuntala Shake Your Body played, I thought the film was over, but then, the lights didn’t come on and, to my horror, there was at least 20 minutes more of the narrative. At this point, I was ready to pull out my hair. The film is apparently two hours and 30 minutes in run-time, it felt longer and was the most excruciating.

The question now is, who is to blame for this disaster fest? In earlier media interactions, Manu Ravichandran had spoken about how involved Vikram is in every aspect of filmmaking. Did he seriously think that audiences today still want to see a story that perhaps worked two decades ago? The next best thing for him is to forget that Trivikrama ever happened and focus on content that is more relatable and lets him be himself.

Verdict: Kannada filmmakers really need to stop what they think is playing to the gallery with these cliched lines that harp about the popularity of the star whose kid/grandkid they are working with. Trivikrama gave me a massive headache. Should you go ahead and still watch it, well, you’ve been warned.