Review: Oh My Friend - Of platonic relationship

Hyderabad: It could have well been a defining moment in cinema: Dealing with a platonic relationship between a guy and a gal who refuse to believe that a physical relationship is imperative in a relationship.

The result is a consequence of concern not so much in the context of this Dil Raju-Sid combination as it is, is about how our cinema refuses to grow up and bring a degree of artistic validity to cinema. Things of great interest are happening elsewhere. We seem to quarantine ourselves.

The narration starts off on the wrong key. You have this love-hate story of the two developing unhealthy intolerance to each other, Chandu and Siri, who soon see the hate replaced with love. Chandu (Sidharth) and Siri (Shruti) are now great pals who rely heavily on each other for their emotional moorings.

They are fun loving and share a great bonding. They are however not 'in love' in the typical understanding of the usage. Siri is engaged to Uday (Navdeep) and Chandu is smitten by Ritu (Hansika Motwani).

So there is no room to believe that somewhere in the labyrinths of their emotions they are running into the predictable mechanics of romance.

After a long spell of rejections, including the one by his dad (Tanekella Bharani), Chandu gets an offer that is going to make him rich and famous.

The foursome leave on a trip to Kerala. Things begin to fall apart. Uday and Ritu feel suffocated in the relationship between the friends. They feel robbed of their place and space.

It is a great opportunity to see this conflict either at the level of internalised deprivation or a failure to see life beyond the routine or even to visualise the challenge as simply an ego hassle.

To add to the challenge is to let each of the principle players see it and approach it differently and examine the conflict thereof.

None of these multiple challenges is even perceived by the debutant director, Venu Sriram. Interestingly the film gives the youth their due and does not deal, very much with them from stations of superiority.

At one stage the dad also concedes that they have seen things in a better perspective than the earlier generation has. The script also does away with a comedy track except for a very brief appearance by Ali (his usual self).

It is strength in our cinema. Each cinema has its own strengths and weaknesses.

For some strange reason we seem eager to give-up our strengths before we erase our weak spots. Both Navdeep and Hansika deliver cardboard expressions. They inherit a script that leaves them with little.

They swallow it with promptitude and do nothing to energise their presence. Hansika Motwani 'true to her name, has put-on too much weight and can be seen as a study in contrast to Shruti Hasan. Shruti has great screen presence and carries herself with a lot of confidence.

Siddharth has a role written for him and is too intelligent to let go the opportunity. He has also matured as an actor. Unlike in Bomarillu, in the climax, he holds his own this time and gives the dialogues the punch that is called for.