Amruth Apartments

Plot: Vasu and Sapna are married and living the EMI life in Bengaluru. The two of them are on the brink of a divorce, when they end up in the middle of a murder mystery. How do they get out of it?

Review: Debutant director Gururaj Kulkarni Nadagoud had said that his film Amruth Apartments is quintessentially his tribute to Bengaluru. And the filmmaker does succeed in showcasing the vibrant cosmopolitan nature of the city that is set against the story of a couple, a Kannadiga lad and a Bengali girl, who are contemplating divorce. Their names - Vasu and Sapna. Does that ring a bell? The names of the North and South Indian jodi in the film Ek Duuje Ke Liye. Is this the director's interpretation of what would have been the case if the two had lived and got married? One isn't sure, but this couple is equally endearing, in a more contemporary way, and sans the drama.

The film is about the couple finding themselves in the midst of a murder mystery, which leads them to fight the tough situation together at a time when they aren't seeing eye to eye. Do they get out of this mess? What will happen to their marriage? This forms the crux of the story that has been told in a simple, no-nonsense way by the filmmaker.

What charms most about this film is the realism. Be it the tension of living the good life in Bengaluru, the disconnected lives that working professionals lead when they are in an apartment complex, or just the frailties in modern relationships that sometimes seem bigger than they actually are. Simple things like the Bengali Sapna correcting someone for calling her Swapna make the film more connected to metropolitan audiences. The dialogues are direct and without theatrics. In fact, we have lines in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil thrown in which is a true reflection of what one hears in the city. One only wishes the second half didn't have the song that broke the momentum of the narrative.

The casting is perfect. Both Tarak Ponnappa and Urvashi HV are convincing as the young couple and deserve applause. Balaji Manohar delivers a knockout performance as Lakkappa Gowda, the Ambareesh fan. The other cast members also perform well and ensure the story translates well on screen. Amruth Apartments is definitely a refreshing tale of young Bengaluru, something not often explored by commercial filmmakers.