Honganasu – Movie Review

Honganasu – A Good Dream

Honganasu is Nenapirali director Rathnaja’s next venture and hence has got its own expectations in the film industry. Here Rathnaja ventures out with a family subject and his favourite star Prem to give a neat movie. And I should say he succeeds at his attempt in conveying his thoughts in a beautiful manner. The storyline is simple and hence he hence needs lots of support from his actors and technical team to put his thoughts to work. He has succeeded in getting that “best” from all of them. As in Nenpirali, Hamsalekha’s music is a major plus point for the movie.

So what is Honganasu about? Its about the dreams of a father (Anantnag) to get his late sister’s daughter Sowmya (Anuradha Mehta) and friend (Ramesh Bhat) as his daughter-in-law for his eldest son, Santhosh (Adarsha). He makes Sagar (Prem), his second son as a part his dreams and Sagar right from his childhood nurtures the dream of seeing Sowmya as his sister-in-law from his childhood and develops a strong bonding towards her. These dreams are prolonged much to the dismay of Anantnag and Sagar since Shilpa, Sagar’s sister is also ready for marriage and doesn’t accept many of the alliances offered to her. The family as usual thinks of getting the daughter married before the marriage of sons. At this point of time one alliance for Shilpa arrives which she accepts much to the surprise of everyone in the family. But the groom’s condition wherein he puts a condition that he would accept Shilpa if Santhosh marries his sister Impana (Anjali) who is studying in a dental college put a big question on the dreams of Anantnag and Sagar. How will Sagar come out of this and how does he make his father’s dream a reality is the rest of the story.

The story being so simple and hence the script is backed up with performances and music. The first half of the movie is quite enjoyable with Sharan’s comedy sequences. I really appreciate this guy’s comic timing sense. He just has to be used properly in movies. Even the comedy track is quite convincing unlike the other movies. The second half is a bit dragging being mostly in flashback wherein Rathnaja tries to depict Sagar’s love for his sister-in-law. Sometimes the sequences make people feel its too much. The length of flashback sequences could be reduced to make it look better. But despite that, the conviction with which Rathnaja handles the climax and the justification given are too apt. The climax arrives too late that’s the major drawback.

Prem as Sagar gives a good performance. He has improved a lot in all domains from his previous movies. Anjali is looks pretty but doesn’t have much to do. Anuradha Mehta acts well in this but she could have been more convincing. Anantnag, Ramesh Bhat and Vinaya Prakash have done their job well. Naveen Krishna supports well in the second half. Sharan is too good in the first half.

Music was the highlight of Rathnaja’s previous movie Nenapirali and here too Hamasalekha’s music adds colors to the movie. Good songs which are already popular have added to the feel of the movie and they arrive at the right time. Lagge Lagge, Chigurodeda, Kandu Konde and the title song are picturized innovatively and are good to watch on screen. Baa Nagu Nannondige comes with the Kerala touch and is impressive. Kuvari Kuvari is ok.

Cinematography is one more plus point for the movie and cinematographer Anant Urs puts his full effort in bringing in front of the beauty of Sahyadri hills, Murdeshwar and Malnad area.

Rathnaja has done a good job in putting this story on to the screen. But I feel he has concentrated more on the second half than on the first half. Romance and Comedy are major highlights in first half but Rathnaja scores in comedy than in romance. The second half is fully a family drama and all the major events take place during this part. Family values, sentimental and thoughtful words add to the effect and Rathnaja convinces with his depiction and justification for the climax. But personally I feel the movie can be trimmed by around 20 mins in the second half with some slick editing.

Now its left to the audience whether they would accept this neat family entertainer with some doubts about the acceptance on the extreme love and possessiveness of a guy towards his sister-in-law. But those doubts would be cleared with the convincing end I believe. On the whole, I feel this movie would also pick up late and by the word of mouth.