Souryam Review

Perhaps movies like Souryam are made to instil a sense of fear in you - a fear that the world isn't safe, and that it is coloured only black and white. It is a world in which evil has no limit, no remorse and no hope of ever turning a shade grey. Nothing of mortal origin can protect the innocent from this evil.

However, in a black-and-white universe, black exists only so you can see white in all its glory - and feel safe in all its brilliance and warmth. So perhaps movies like these are made so you keep looking forward to a six-foot-one-inch tall, smart and cheeky guy, who will look fear itself in the eye, beat up whoever is troubling you, and meanwhile - if you are a woman and you are lucky - romance you.

Mostly, however, movies like this are made to milk some more, Tollywood's oldest formula. Fortunately, sometimes you get lucky.

Vijay (Gopichand) comes to study in Kolkata (the Tollywood version of which, predictably, has not a single Bengali in it). Two women, Swetha (Anushka) and Divya (Poonam Kaur), enter his life. Vijay is on the radar of some goons from Hyderabad, and while he is not romancing Swetha, he is fighting for his life. It is when he saves Divya's life from these terrible men that we get to know why he has come to Kolkata in the first place.

The rest of the story is quite typical, about a dreadful villain, his henchmen, and a real smart-ass cop to match them all single-handedly, blow-by-bloody blow. In this (black and white) world, Vijay is the gleam of hope that lights up the dark clouds every time they threaten the innocent.

The film is unapologetically undiluted commercial fare, with quite a bit of everything in it - lots of violence, sentiment, a love story, and a happy ending. Fortunately, it helps that it is a well-made, well-edited flick. The dialogues are slick and so are the visuals. The music is decent, but we could have had a few softer songs. And everyone acts well.

So when Gopichand is not brutally hacking the bad guys or running down the slopes of Switzerland with Anushka, he is real busy emoting and spewing some clever lines - and he does all this with sincerity. Anushka is spontaneous and quite good with the comedy. Speaking of comedy, there is a lot of it in the film; the regulars are all there - Ali, Dharmavarapu, Krishna Bhagavan and Raghu Babu.

If you are looking for a masala entertainer, and can tolerate the excessive blood and gore, you will enjoy Souryam. Just don't bring any kids along.