Director: Rishab Shetty
Cast: Rakshit Shetty, Hariprriya, Achyuth Kumar, Pramod Shetty, Sadhu Kokila
One of the best things that has happened to Sandalwood in the recent times, is that some of the new directors are thinking beyond the routine love stories. They are moving away from the senseless subjects revolving around the same old rowdism which stars longu, machhu (the typical and popular machetes), and the remakes due to which some even become the re-makers and never the actual directors. Rishab Shetty, is another sensible addition to the group of new talented directors with completely fresh approach towards telling a story coupled with impeccable technical knowledge, and most of all their undying passion and love towards ‘good’ movies. Even the producers deserve some applause for supporting such good cause.
Now, why 'Ricky' deserves good appreciation despite shades of 'Dil Se', 'Roja' and remotely few more, is for its honest effort in webbing a love story around a sensitive subject – naxalism. The director deals with the subject on a balanced platform while taking no side, and yet presenting the ‘red’ side of both for and against the system. The biggest spoiler is the music director Arjun Janya, who proclaims himself as the magical composer. It needs no special ears to identify the greater influence of the genius Oscar awardee A R Rahman. Arjun Janya desperately needs to fine tune his abilities rather than just downloading someone else’s hard work in the name of influence.
Back to the good side of 'Ricky', though the Karnataka state is removed from the list of naxalite-affected states, it highlights the socio-economic factors which led to the insurgence of naxalism in the Western Ghats. The peg for Rishab here is the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) due to which the lands of several poor agriculturalists in those affected areas were taken away, and talks on why the youths joined the movement, some for livelihood and some going blind on red. Staying true to his subject, the cinematographer Venkatesh Anguraj has done a fair job in capturing the natural beauty of the Western Ghats, and Hariprriya.
In a nutshell, Krishna played by Rakshit Shetty, a wildlife conversationalist gets engaged to his childhood love Radha before going on a one-year project tracking leopards in the Himalayan region. The story takes a twist when Radha’s parents die after their lands including the house which is set for takeover by the government. Soon after the takeover, Radha is drawn towards naxalism and what follows is Krishna’s will and love to bring back his fiancé. Will he manage? Definitely worth a watch.
The three stars of this venture are certainly the director, who makes an impressive debut by choosing a sensitive subject while attaching it with an obvious love story, and then the lead actors – Rakshit Shetty, who takes his acting skills to another level, and Hariprriya who is simply by far one of the very few actresses at present in Sandalwood who can perform in addition to looking beautiful. Truly, dil se…
