29 Movie Review - A distant romantic drama!

Ashwin Ram

Premise: Vidhu is a 29-year-old bachelor who does not have any career ambition in life, falls in love with Preethi Asrani, who is ambitious to become a district collector. Conflict breaks out when the heroine figures out that there is no individual space for her in their relationship.

Writing/ Direction: The film takes up a modern relationship conflict, though the storytelling style leans more towards an old-school approach. Rathna Kumar spends ample time establishing the protagonist’s world, and while certain narrative choices like the voice-over and chapter-wise presentation do not entirely elevate the experience, they reflect the director’s attempt to give the film a distinctive flavour. The screenplay occasionally loses its flow with a few distracting detours and comedy stretches that may not work for everyone. Vidhu’s rural backstory and the social welfare angle had interesting ideas, but they could have been integrated more organically into the central narrative. However, the later portions do bring out some emotionally engaging moments and relationship complexities that add depth to the film. A crisper runtime and tighter narration could have made these strengths land more effectively.

Performances: Vidhu finds it tough to perform in the correct metre, either he is over expressive or puts up a flat show. Man needs improvement with his body language and dialogue delivery as well. On the other hand, Preethi Asrani gets it mostly right, she is solid while being subtle and sad, her acting feels kiddish only at some enthusiastic stretches.

Technicalities:  Sean Roldan had been piillar of the film with his music. Such a big album with so many tracks, yet he proves his mettle with some delightful numbers, except for the crappy commercial song at the start. Neat background score as well, but the presentation has nothing impactful to make use of. Cinematography is a letdown, closeup shots are essential for the dramatic upbeats, but many weird angles spoiled the watch. Clumsy editing that seemed to have no pre-planning, and the film could have easily been around 2 hours rather than dragging things unnecessarily, 150 minutes was such a tedious task to overcome.

Verdict: 29 explores a relatable modern relationship conflict and has a few emotionally effective moments in the later half. Sean Roldan’s music works beautifully throughout, while Preethi Asrani delivers a convincing performance. Though the film feels heavily inspired by Raanjhanaa and struggles with an incoherent screenplay and uneven execution at places, Rathna Kumar’s sincere ideas and the relationship complexities still make it a film that could connect with a section of the audience.