Title – Amara Premi Arun, Producer – Olavu Cinema, Direction – Praveen Kumar, Cinematographer – Praveen S, Music – Kiran Ravindranath, Cast – Harisharva, Dharmanna Kadur, Kriti Bhat, Mahesh Bank, Archana Kottige, Ranjitha Puttaswamy, Manjamma Jogathi, Radha Ramachandra, Bal Rajwadi and others.
With such a title, one expects it to be an everlasting love story. That is true. For the family audience, director Praveen Kumar has served a plain dosa, and the olden days’ tales told on the silver screen come to mind.
The ಉಪ್ಪಿಟ್ಟು-day friend in school, Arun, and Kavya travel for 144 minutes to bring down the curtains. In such a long and protracted style of narration, the film offers no jerks, no turns, a few twists, and some nail-biting moments. Everything is told in a plain manner.
What is that plain manner? As Arun and Kavya grow up in different places, the one-sided love of Arun becomes the point of discussion. After a frantic search for Kavya, now grown up as a proofreader in a printing press at Ballari, the lost-and-found game ends—but Kavya is in love with another boy, and in turn, that boy is not interested in Kavya.
Arun understands the situation and works out a strategy to keep Kavya happy. He controls his emotions, and his intention of seeing his girlfriend happy takes priority. A lot of melodrama unfolds in the process.
Kavya’s parents accept her even though she had eloped. But the problem remains the same: who is going to marry Kavya? To get the answer to this question, you have to spend two and a half hours in the theatre.
What could have been told in a half-hour short film, the director takes his own time—and the producer’s money—to spill out his capacity.
The protagonist Harisharva has given a decent performance. Kriti Bhat as Kavya shows various emotions. Dharmanna Kadur’s comedy punch is admirable at places.
The musical compositions by Kiran Ravindranath and the lyrics by Yogaraj Bhat and Jayanth Kaikini are plus points for this film. Dialogues like “Pritige Kan Alla Thalenu Illa,” “Satthu Badukuvude Amara Prema,” and others are notable.
Cinematography by Praveen S captures the exotic locations of Ballari, which are a treat to watch.
It is a free-time watch for the family audience. Love is not all-important; the life of the lover is important. The film focuses on this as the main theme in Amara Premi Arun.
