Thippara Meesam
Cast: Sree Vishnu, Rohini, Nikki Tamboli, Josh Ravi and Ravi Varma
Director: Krishna Vijay
Duration: 2 hrs 38 mins
Rating: HH
Actor After a hit like Brochevarevaru Ra, Sree Vishnu, who’s known for his penchant for content-based films across different genres, carries on his shoulder the burden of repeating that performance. So his latest release Thippara Meesam, directed by Krishna Vijay, naturally came with similar expectations.
As the movie unfolds, it was clear that the director had taken inspiration for his protagonist from Arjun Reddy, although the story here is completely different. This one’s about a young man who is a drug addict as a child and is led into rehabilitation, is into betting, and thrives in messy relationships. But a particular incident in life turns him around and transforms him.
Mani Shankar (Sree Vishnu),who works as a DJ in a pub, lives by himself. He hates his mother Lalitha (Rohini), who works as an assistant librarian and writes novels. We learn that in his childhood, Mani was a drug-addict because of which his mother admits him in rehab. His hate for his mother starts then, to the extent that after he comes out of the centre, he decides to live away from her and works as a DJ. But it seems the addiction manifests in other ways because now the young man is into gambling, losing a lot of money and with a debt of `30 lakhs. To repay the debt, he asks his mother to give him his share to the house. In midst of all this though, one incident turns his life around. What that incident is and how it affects him form the crux of the film.
Director Vijay tells the story of a person who has many bad qualities and one positive quality. When you put it all on the paper, it sounds good, but when it comes to the narration onscreen, the director has completely ruined it. The director concentrates more on showing the protagonist’snegatives. The narration is very slow and most of the scenes merely drag on into the boring zone. The last half hour of the story is handled well, with the courtroom drama and a few sentimental scenes between the mother and the son.
When it comes to the performance, Sree Vishnu steals the show. He has done a great job here, therefore it is sad that the director couldn’t connect to his role well. Nikki does what she can to her limited role.
Most of the story happens in the night and the cinematography keeps up effectively with the setting and the dark mood of the film.
In summary, Thippara Meesam is not a film worth the watch owing to the director’s complete failure in coming up with an interesting narration. There’s just too much darkness to the mood, feel and theme to deal with until you reach the last half hour of the film
