Hareesha Vayassu 36 review: This tale about a 36-year-old unmarried guy is a complete waste of time

1.5/5

Story: Hareesha, a small-time real-estate broker, lives with his widowed pensioner father. The biggest bane of Hareesha’s life is that at 36 he remains unmarried and try as he might, he just can’t find the right match. Is there a ray of hope for Hareesha or is it too late already?

Review: Hareesha Vayassu 36 is based on a wafer-thin plot – the protagonist, Hareesha (Yogesh Shetty), is 36 years old and unmarried, much to the amusement of those around him. It isn’t surprising, though, because Hareesha is not a looker, has diabetes and is only a small-time real-estate broker with no remarkable professional achievements to speak of. He lives with his elderly father, a retired school teacher who is hard of hearing, and shoulders the responsibility of running the household. Hareesha doesn’t lift a finger to help around the house, and is okay having his father toil around. And yet the local broker makes it her mission to find a match for this man, even if it means getting him a girl from across the border (Kerala). The trip to Payyanur to see a Malayali girl is supposed to provide comic relief, but is only about poking fun at her, and even body shaming her. If only someone could explain what makes Hareesha so special that he deserves better.

Hareesha Vayassu 36 is a film in which people repeatedly tell Hareesha that at 36 he is probably closer to death than ever getting married. And this gets stretched across almost two hours, which gets pretty tiresome after a point. In all honesty, this could have been a short film if the filmmaker had not included a track about a drama rehearsal for the 10-year-anniversary of a local arts club. It wasn’t funny and didn’t really serve any purpose but to stretch a narrative that really has no legs to stand on.

The performances are lacklustre in a film that really has nothing to write home about. The title track, sung by the late Puneeth Rajkumar, encapsulates what the film is about. You can safely skip the rest.

Verdict: Do you need to spend two hours on a film that goes on and on about the protagonist’s age and that he’s not made anything of himself in order to get settled? Nah!