Chitram Review

A college. A hero and his gang, the singing sensations. An NRI girl who joins the college and has an ear for music. Love springs between her and the guitar-strumming hero. The inevitable wranglings between their parents, and their struggles and frustrations. So what is new you might ask. Everything about it - the narrative, the treatment, the cast and even the director.

A well thought-out movie, Chitram is not just any love story but one with a meaning. It deals with a sensitive issue - that of teenage love and the kind of predicament that the act of love creates. In this case love leads to a one-night stand, and the girl ends up pregnant. And the boy and girl are just 17 and 16 years old, respectively.

What should they do? Should they go in for abortion as the hero suggests? Or should they go in for the baby? A tricky situation since they are at an age where they should be guided by their elders, and here they have to act as the elders. Come what may, the girl opts to have the baby. So they get married with the reluctant consent from both the sides. But both their parents don't want to have to do anything with them once they are married.

Now the struggle starts with the boy working in double shifts - attending college in the day and working in the musical band by the night in a star hotel. Given his age, he is unable to juggle the chores, and therefore he is chided both by this teachers and his employer to be more focussed. Since he cannot sacrifice any of them he is caught in a bind. And the strain has its inevitable fallout in the marital relationship. How do they handle this situation? Do they fall out? To find out, you have to watch the movie.

A small film, Teja handles the treatment so well that there is no trace of confusion as to which way the movie should progress. And it is a remarkable achievement given the fact that it is his first film. It becomes all the more worthy since he handles an all new cast. Both the hero and heroine perform well, especially the heroine. And so does their gang of friends. There are laughs all the way - particularly when Bharani and Delhi Rajeshwari trivialise every serious issue and fight for nought. A good film that cannot be better.