Review: Back Bench - better stay off

Director Madhura Sridhar, who carved a niche for himself with youthful romantic entertainers- 'Sneha Geetham' and 'It's My Love Story', is back with his forte -'Back Bench Student'.

The film got enough buzz as it marks the debut of Tamil actor Mahat Raghavendra, and also the posters of the film showcase Chetan Bhagat's 'What Young India Wants' as well as the huge promotional stunt.

But after watching the film, you'll end up saying the new-age filmmaker merely failed to understand what really the youth audience wants.

Poor narration, disoriented screenplay, amateurish cast, the age-old concept of a triangular love story, disappointing music and superfluous comedy put you off. The way credits roll on might generate some attention, but soon enough creativity fizzles out.

The story begins in US where one of the lead actresses Priyanka (Archana Kavi) is pursuing her Masters in Engineering. She wants to quit the course abruptly (after a year-long study) in order to go back to her home in Vizag for her missing love (Karthik) essayed by Mahath.

The scene shifts to Vizag and Priyanka convinces her parents like in other Madhura Sridhar's films. Priyanka recalls her 'Happy Days' with Karthik and college life and that's how the first flashback of the story begins.

The roles are so poorly and unrealistically etched that one doesn't connect on any level. Even scenes like ragging, college bunks, crushes etc have been featured a zillion times before.

Moreover, one wonders how two people can get so intimate in the very first interaction. This applies not just to lead roles but to sidekicks too.

love2Karthik, a happy-go-lucky chap and son of a business baron Prasad (Sarath Babu), is very poor in studies. He fails in just 16 subjects in four years.

And after his lady love Priyanka leaves for US for her higher studies, it's splitsville for Karthik. Interestingly, even she doesn't know of the breakup!

And now, 'mana' hero befriends an orphan Chaitra (Piaa Bajpai), a girl he had earlier rescued from some assaulters. And soon, the duo fall for each other and they are about to part their ways when Priyanka returns into Karthik's life.

At the end, it looks like the basic plot of the film resembles Pawan Kalyan-starrer 'Badri' but stands nowhere in comparison with it.

Be it the scene where Karthik and Priya booze and sleep together in the hero's bed in his home when his parents are very much around, Karthik's mother who puts Priya in the bed after having found her drunk, the scene where Karthik's gang of boys and girls gulp beers together in Karthik's house or the scene where Karthik, an ethical hacker, helps out Chaitra's software company from a crisis that arose due to Pakistani hackers ' are just a very few out many that lack logic.

The negative role played by Rudhraksh is far better than other roles in the film despite short screen time. Not even star comedians Ali and Brahmanandam could save this film.

In fact, Brahmi, who plays Kareena Kapoor in this film, lets you down and one eagerly awaits when he leaves the screen. It is perhaps the worst role for Brahmanandam.

Even the cinematography is bad and the visuals are poor. The film even fails in technical front. Top of all, there is no clue in the film why the hero calls himself a backbencher and in addition, there is no justification to its title at all. Makes better sense for students to sit in the back bench and tolerate that boring lecture in college than try this one out.