Bhavachitra movie review: A thriller with a stale plot that's several decades too old

1.5/5

Story: Vishnu (Chakravarthy Reddy), an urban corporate employee with a passion for photography, is on the lookout for a match for his sister, for which he registers her with a matrimonial. A discussion about the kind of guy he wants for her ends in him registering too and being matched with Chitra (Ganavi Laxman). She, though, doesn’t believe in an arranged marriage and wants to get to know him, just in case they do take the plunge eventually. Then, they have a minor disagreement and Vishnu takes off on a solo bike ride, his routine when he needs to calm himself down and feel better. But when his camera picks up something that the naked eye doesn’t, Vishnu sets out to find out the cause.

Review: Bhavachitra , by director Girish Kumar B, who also plays a major role in the film, has two stories rolled into one movie. The film starts well (but slow), establishing Vishnu’s passion for photography and his budding relationship with Chitra. In fact, that was one of the most refreshing bits of this film, where it was not the routine love at first sight, hero-stalk-heroine till she says yes situation, and felt a lot more normal. So far so good.

It is after this that the film quite literally goes asunder. The second half involves a flashback to unravel the mystery of Vishnu’s camera capturing images that he can’t see otherwise. Girish as Shankar is the focal point of this arc. Shankar is the right-hand man of village chief Bala (Girish Bijjal), and his close buddies, who, together keep the villagers safe from an evil dacoity gang.

Shankar is also in love with Chitra (Ganavi again), his childhood friend, who is studying the local temples for an architecture project. But days before their wedding, they are found dead in front of the temple in what appears to be a suicide pact. Can Vishnu figure out what actually happened? This is where the twist in the tale comes in and writing about it would be a major spoiler, so I shall refrain, but I must add that it’s not a shocker and is actually sad that the filmmaker had to rely on something so archaic.

After the promising start of the first half, the second was not only predictable, but quite yawn-inducing too. The media screening last evening was tolerable because after a point, several members began playing detective and solving the whodunit, the comments to which were the highlight of the show. I wonder what Girish, who was in the audience, thought of this reaction to his film.

Verdict: My only takeaway from this insipid film is Ganavi Laxman’s striking resemblance to a young Priyanka Chopra. But hey, you do not have to watch this film to figure that out; there’s the internet and memes to help with that. There are quite a few Kannada films in theatres this week and if you were planning to catch one, watch this only if the supernatural is right up your alley.