Sunayana Suresh, TNN, Mar 29, 2019, 02.10 PM ISTCritic's Rating: 2.5Sanjana, a girl from the city, visits her grandfather during her school vacations, in his village by the forest. Out here, Sanjana and her new friends from the village encounter a bunch of greedy members of the tree mafia. Will Sanjana, who can hear plants speak, save the forest?
This film is an interesting attempt to educate children about the ills of deforestation and the importance of keeping green cover intact. The idea behind the film is nice, but the execution is where it falls a little short. The film seems a little longer than it should have ideally been, while the editing also seems jagged.
The portions featuring the bunch of kids and their antics are the highlight. The climax, which talks about the problem of the depleting green cover is quite good, too. There are very few films that try to mix fantasy and social messages in Sandalwood, which makes the attempt novel. The children and Ramesh Bhat have given endearing performances.
Gandhada Kudi may not have the budget to showcase the idea that they had in the best way, but the message that it aims to put forth is sweet. It might be a couple of tens of minutes too long, but the effort is worth a watch, if you are in the mood to experiment.