Govinda Govinda movie review: Sumanth Shailendra makes assured comeback in film that’s fun in parts

2.5/5

Story: Friends Venkatesh, Keshav and Hari, who are repeat offenders as far as failing college goes, strike a bond with Alamelu, the principal’s daughter, whose heart lies in dance and not studies. When Alamelu is pushed to pursue academics, she decides to get away from her father with the help of her new friends. Do they succeed in this mission?

Review: Govinda Govinda follows two parallel storylines – one follows an aspiring filmmaker called Srinivas (Roopesh Shetty), whose big break will come if he manages to convince popular actress Padmavathi (Bhavana) to star in his film, while the second is about three friends, Venkatesh (Sumanth Shailendra), Keshav (Pawan) and Hari (Vijay Chendoor), who cook up a kidnap-for-ransom drama for new pal Alamelu. Everything goes smoothly for all parties for a while, till their paths cross.

Sumanth, who was away from Kannada cinema for five years, on account of having been busy with a couple of Telugu projects at first and then the pandemic, returns with Govinda Govinda, which is the remake of the Telugu crime drama Brochevarevarura. The film had a theatrical release in late November and has now dropped on both Netflix and SunNXT. Sumanth makes an assured comeback in the film, which has been shot in locations across Vijayapura and Bengaluru and is peppered with pertinent messages. Special mention to Kavitha Gowda too, who, as Alamelu, brings in the right amount of youthful innocence to her character. While Pawan and Vijay Chendoor do what’s required of them in this tale, they come across as complete misfits as college students. Just how many times have they failed already?

Verdict: Govinda Govinda is engaging and fun in parts. The film would have been a lot better with some crisp editing. The climax is unnecessarily drawn out, but the advantage of it now being on OTT means that you can skip ahead and give the boring bits a miss.