GARGI is a court room drama that is written and directed by Gautham Ramachandran and produced by by Ravichandran Ramachandran, Gautham Ramachandran, Thomas George, and Aishwarya Lekshmi.

At the beginning of the film the writer director spells out his inspiration that is a tad amusing, but then you know why. An oft repeated plot GARGI is embellished with old school nuances that is wonderfully crafted by Goutham Ramachandran. The film progresses without much fuss neatly drawing the audience into the plot without overstepping the melodrama part. So far so good. The first half is just very good despite the jarring court scenes, all set for an intriguing second half. The second half unveils itself well till we get to the climax with the rather unexpected yet expected twist to avoid cliché. Yet the frail characters and its characterization fail to convince. Yes there are no villains or outrageous rage, even the affected play calm. The calm is supposed to be uneasy, but the tranquility fails to connect as the “mature” emotion of everyone involved is a smidgen flat for comfort. The message and the sermons that so far were conspicuous of its absence unfortunately finds its way towards the climax in a “loud” mode symbolic of truism.

Sai Pallavi delivers a dignified performance. Kaali Venkat is decent. Saravanan is neat. The rest are good.

Cinematographer Sraiyanti-Premkrishna Akkattu make viewing ethereal . Govind Vasantha’s background score is befitting. Shafique Ali’s editing is stand out. Dialogues are good and direction is first-rate.

GARGI is fantastic subterfuge of a cliché with lackadaisical characterization.

GARGI – GAMBEERAM !!!

3/5

B.U.Shreesha