Solo Review: Good in Parts, But a Let-down Overall

Sethumadhavan 

Anthology films aren’t new to Malayalam cinema, we’ve seen quite a few such attempts especially being made in the last few years, with Kerala Café (2010) and 5 Sundarikal (2013) being the more celebrated ones. But when BejoyNambiar announced his intention to come up with Solo it was indeed something that sounded quite interesting. For starters this was to be Bejoy’s first ever Malayalam feature film, also he was getting to collaborate with the hot & happening Dulquer Salmaan. Add to it the fact that the film was to be a proper bilingual (Tamil & Malayalam) as well as the point that Solo was to be an anthology of 4 different stories, all of them helmed by the same director (Bejoy) and featuring the same leading man (Dulquer) but otherwise all 4 stories were to remain unconnected except for the theme of exploring 4 different elements & interplaying them against different facets of Lord Shiva.

Of course there has been a constant fear of Bejoy’s filmmaking style focusing more on style and less on substance. So here with Solo it looked like he did have a really wonderful opportunity to prove people wrong and deliver something really unique and strong in terms of its content. The music of the film had already gone on to become very popular in the run up leading to the release and even the promos definitely showed spark. Unfortunately the Tamil version of the film got a raw deal thanks to no fault of the team, the multiplexes/exhibitors strike in Tamil Nadu forcing Bejoy to pull out the Tamil version after a single day’s run in theatres all across. Considering the recent form of Dulquer, the slick promos and the lovely music, I was looking forward to an exciting time while watching Solo. Of course by default I had to opt for the Malayalam version, having missed the Tamil version on its opening day. Having seen the film by now it’s time to reflect back upon the film and throw light on what works and what doesn’t.

World of Shekhar (Water)-A sincere romantic tale between Shekhar (Dulquer), a dashing college student with a stammer and Radhika (Sai Dhansika), his college mate who is a passionate dancer, pretty and blind, their romance faces the usual family objections. But there’s more to the tale than the usual family drama that ensues. What happens to Shekhar, Radhika and their love for each other? World of Trilok (Wind)-A tale of revenge that links together 2 accidents, with one man, Trilok (Dulquer) being the common connection between the same. World of Siva (Fire)-Two brothers Siva (Dulquer) and Siddhu (Rohan Manoj) from a broken family end up getting engulfed in the world of crime, with Siva working as the henchman of Bhadran, a don (Manoj K.Jayan). An unexpected murder triggers off a sense of deep seated rage upon Siva and the action shifts from Kochi to Mumbai. What is the trigger point for the flare up and what happens eventually? World of Rudra (Earth)-Rudra (Dulquer) is an army officer who’s madly in love with Akshara (Neha Sharma), a relationship that her father disapproves of. While they are both secure in each other’s company, life seems to have something else in store for both of them.

At the very outset it’s imperative to admit that at an overall conceptual level Solo does impress in terms of a truly different attempt to portray 4 different elements. There are some really wonderful moments that we come across, like the confrontation between Shekhar and Radhika in the swimming pool (World of Shekhar) or the way Siva and Vishnu (Prakash Belawadi) meet their ends due to a common factor (World of Siva). The film does benefit in terms of some excellent visuals (Girish Gangadharan, MadhuNeelakandan and Sejal Shah) while the deployment of music in the film is more than praiseworthy. In particular I’d like to highlight upon the use of the “AigiriNandini-Eye for an Eye” track (lyrics by Dhanya Suresh, composed by Thaikkudam Bridge, sung by Govind Menon and Meera). However despite all these positives sadly Solo also suffers quite a bit due to its inconsistency in many ways. In terms of the writing Bejoy has not managed to keep all the 4 stories equally amazing.

The stories range from the good, the above average, average and even downright bad (not in any particular order) and that is clearly a sign of things having gone wrong. Once again this film too indicates that when it comes to style Bejoy is clearly in his elements, but sadly the same cannot be said about substance as well. The film boasts of a huge ensemble cast, Sai Dhansika, Neha Sharma, Manoj K.Jayan and SruthiHariharanare all especially impactful. Dulquer Salmaan does well, appearing very convincing in all his 4 avatars, bringing out subtle but relevant changes in terms of body language, dialogue delivery and even physical appearance. But unfortunately Bejoy has been inconsistent, the film going on to both impress and disappoint in equal ways.

Bottomline:

Solo is a brave attempt by BejoyNambiar that has received wonderful support from Dulquer Salmaan. What could have ended up as a benchmark of sorts for anthology films sadly ends up as an inconsistent, disheartening affair on the big screen.

Rating: 2.5/5