Kannada film Nanda is Shivaraj Kumar's first film of the year. For an actor who had very bad releases last year, the new year's first release should have given some hope for a turnaround in his career. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The film made by Anantha Raju fails to showcase any freshness in the actor's performance. A pity indeed as Raju's first film Masth Maja Maadi, a remake of the Hindi film Dhamaal has been much appreciated.
It looks like Shivanna, as he is popularly called in the Kannada film industry has erred in the choice of the script [Raju is credited as the scriptwriter as well] and director once again.
Nanda is based on a story written by producer Mahim who has also played an important role in the movie. Raju's screenplay exposes his inability to write a credible script. The result: Nanda ends up as a torturous expereince despite the presence of talented artists and technicians.
More than the director, it is the fight master who seems to have been in charge of the film. From the beginning you see a number of fights with very distinctive type of weapons being used for each combat. As for comedy, the director has shown his poor taste in narrating the sequences.
On the positive side however, the song that is picturised in Bangkok looks pleasant.
The story goes like this: Nanda, the owner of college canteen who students referr to as 'Senior' is much sought after by the students for advice on everything under the sun. A girl by the name of Kavya falls secretly in love with Nanda. Bad times await Nanda when he gets into the wrong books of Kavya's mother and uncle, the police commissioner. Nanda wants to marry Kavya despite the resistance from the police commissioner. However, he lands in jail on a foisted case. More trouble awaits him when he is used as a pawn by two rival gangs.
Shivaraj Kumar tries to salvage the film through his dashing fights and dances. Kaadhal Sandhya, who makes her debut is wasted. Veteran artists like Avinash, Shobharaj, Rangayana Raghu, Sharath Lohithashwa, Bhavya and Vanitha Vasu too have been wasted.
Ramesh Babu's photography is good, but music director V.Manohar's compositions are just average. Strictly for action lovers.
Rediff Rating: 
