In 1998 when A.Karunakaran, made ‘Tholi Prema’, he was described as a pioneer of a new wave in the genre of romance. Quite a few others continued to ape his style and technique and succeeded. However, Karunakaran stuck to when he knew best and continued to make more love stories. His latest film ‘Darling’ is yet another love story which has all the essential ingredients of what you expect from a Karunakaran’s film. The film starring Prabhas and Kajal is set in a world where everyone is good by nature. It narrates the love story of how Prabhas meets his childhood sweetheart Nandini.

What is it about : Prabhas starts as Prabhas, a Generation Y punk who’s waiting for his childhood sweetheart Nandini (Kajal) to walk into his life once again. When his friend (Shraddha Das) proposes her love to him, Prabhas turns it down. Dejected with this decision, Shraddha Das attempts suicide which irks his father (Mukesh Rishi). He forces Prabhas to accept his daughter’s proposal but before Prabhas accepts, he narrates the story of how he met Nandini. The rest of the story is about how Prabhas and Nandini meet and how they fall in love with each other.

What is Good: ‘Darling’, as a film never takes itself too seriously. There are a bunch of actors goofing around to have a jolly good time be it in Switzerland or Araku. It’s the little moments of joy which drive the story forward. If you have closely observed Karunakaran’s films then you will realize that there are hardly any villains or grey shades in the character. Same is the case with this film. Almost everyone is good at heart which inturn forces us to concentrate on the budding love story. Although it’s not subtle, the love story has its share of fine moments. Take that scene shot in Switzerland for example, where Kajal realizes that Prabhas is in love with her. Or even the scene where Kajal realizes how nice a person Prabhas is when the later solves a huge predicament of his family friend. Moments like these don’t go futile and the film is filled with such incidents.

Of the star cast, Prabhas seems to have had a good time while shooting for the film. His body language especially in the second half of the film is effective; although he looks dazed in most of his scenes. His style statement especially the costumes and dances are noteworthy. Prabhu, Ahuti Prasad, Dharmavarapu Subramaniam, M S Narayana, Srinivas Reddy, Shraddha Das and Mukesh Rishi are effective in their roles. Amidst all of them, it’s the heroine of the film Kajal Agarwal who dazzles with her exuberance so much that it’s almost contagious! Take that scene where Kajal meets Prabhas’ music band in Switzerland where she pleads for a chance to sing for them. Kajal is quite chirpy in most of her scenes and breezes through them with elan.

What is bad: Love stories have been a tried and tested formula. Karunakaran doesn’t really attempt to do anything new in ‘Darling’ or try to interpret love from a new perspective. Perhaps this makes the film all the more predictable. The second half of the film drags a bit and over stays its welcome as far as the family drama is concerned.

Technical Departments: Andrew’s cinematography is beautiful in the film. The songs and scenes shot in Switzerland have a good mix of colours like blue and green which is quite pleasant to watch. G V Prakash’s music is alright. Swamy’s dialogues are good. Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao’s editing is decent. Peter Heins’ action choreography is quite effective. Karunakaran has also handled the story and screenplay apart from the direction of the film. While there are some clever twists and turns in the film, the screenplay could have been better especially in second half to make it more engaging. All in all, ‘Darling’ is a typical Karunakaran’s film with a neat storyline laced with good comedy and family drama.

Bottomline: ‘Darling’ is quite a harmless film, in the sense that, it doesn’t harm your intelligence. It hardly takes itself seriously and Karunakaran’s formula works to a great extent. It’s the story of a jovial hero who is smitten by a beautiful girl; the love story between this couple and a happy ending. This formula may have been done to death, but it’s still an enigma that it works over and over again. Thumbs up for ‘Darling’ and the trio Karunakaran, Prabhas, Kajal. Go watch it and if you order this ‘Cheese Cake’ then make sure that you watch the end credits for some ‘extra cheese’! Life’s always good in Karunakaran’s world.