‘Love 360’ movie review: Melodrama and unconvincing writing spoil it all

Had the narrative been tighter and nuanced, Shashank would have succeeded at holding the audience’s attention

Shashank, who is known for making films with intense love stories such as Moggina Manasu, Krishnan Love Story, and Krishna-Leela, brings little solace to the audience with his latest, Love 360. This Kannada-Telugu bilingual film is aimed at testifying that true love has a 360-degree impact.

It is an unconditional passionate love story of childhood friends and fellow orphans Ram (Praveen Kumar) and Janaki (Rachana Inder) and how they stand for each other under all circumstances. Janaki suffers from a mental disorder called Dissociative Amnesia, which is simply called memory loss here. Ram passionately protects her from all evils of society, one which is up in arms against the very idea of love. Ram nurtures the dream of marrying her after she gets cured. However, their lives taken an unexpected turn when Janaki gets embroiled in a serious crime and becomes a suspect to the police. If and how Ram will save Janaki is what keeps the audience hooked.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if one finds similarities between the South Korean film Mother (2009), by Bong Joon-ho and Love 360 The melodrama might remind one of Balu Mahendra’s Moondram Pirai as well.

Shashank presents an intriguing love story by permeating elements of a thriller that makes the audience stick to their seats. However, those who watched his will be a little disappointed with the excessive melodramatic performances of the artists. Because of this, the message that the director wanted to communicate gets blurry. While the treatment of the mental health issue could have been better, the narration needed reasonable logic to appear convincing to the audience.

Though Gokarna is used as the backdrop of the film, none of the characters imbibe the flavour of the place to make the narrative authentic. Had this been achieved with the support of the visual language that the content demands, the film would have been more convincing. Nevertheless, Shashank has infused all the commercial elements to please the audience.

Nothing much could be said about the performance of the debutant Praveen. While he is good in action sequences, he struggles in the dramatic scenes which prove to be vital for Ram’s character. There is a visible effort from Rachana to fit into the character. Of course, the supporting cast also deserve their fair share of credit in lifting the film. Cinematographer Abhilash Kalathi’s frames also offer much-needed support for the narration. Jagave Neenu Gelathiye… the song sung by Sid Sriram and scored by Arjun Janya, make a lasting impression.