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 conflict is modern, but the direction style appears to be old-school, which is evident in the very beginning. We get an introductory stretch establishing the protagonist’s life, followed by an opening song where the hero struggles to pull off some simple dance steps. The voice-over narrative and the chapter-wise storytelling was never required here, these aspects did not add any value in making the story more relevant. Despite being a romantic flick, the characters and the situations feel so distant, it is mainly because of the way the screenplay is conceived. No coherency in the flow and there are ample deviations to keep us detached from the lead pair. We get some absurd monologues from the hero about being a bachelor, multiple amateur friend characters who frequently irritate in the name of comedy. Vidhu’s rural track feels so external, no sincerity in writing to incorporate it fluently within the main subject. Hence his mother's sentiment and the social welfare angle do not stand tall. There are a few worthy plot-points in the later half that highlight the complexity of the relationship, but these interesting points never stood a chance to be a tool to enhance the bigger picture. Also it was too late by that time, the film must have been crisper and these assets should have been brought to light in the interval area.

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 has tried to save the film single-handedly 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.