The movie poster.
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Movie review: Dear Radhi
Cast: Saravana Vickram, Hasli Amaan, Rajesh Balachandiran and Sai Dinesh
Director: Praveen K. Mani
Rating: 5/10
DEAR Radhi is the debut movie of director Praveen K Mani. It starts off at a snail’s pace, and stutters and stammers throughout its run time of just over two hours.
Former television soap actor, YouTuber and Big Boss (Tamil Season 7), Saravana Vickram, debuts into the cinema world as Madhan, who suffers from a serious bout of anxiety and low self-esteem when he is around women. He pays a young prostitute Radhi, played by actress Hasli Amaan, to spend a day with him so that he gets over the phobia of being around women.
Agreeing with Madhan's proposal, Radhi escapes from the brothel to spend the day with him. Unbeknown to Madhan and Radhi, a ruthless client named Varadhan (Rajesh Balachandiran) and a couple of his henchmen pursue Radhi for their own personal needs to turn her into a cash cow. Add to the mix a crooked cop. He is also on the hunt for Radhi, who has stolen his service revolver during his previous visit. He does not want the revolver to land into wrong hands and has to get it back at all costs.
The big let-down of the movie is the number of times the hero takes a break from the goings-on, on the screen and speaks to the viewing audience. This does not auger well for the enjoyment of the movie. It could have been a slick action-packed romantic comedy instead of a long drawn-out, big-yawn movie.
Although Mani had good intentions when making this movie, he unfortunately lost the plot after a few minutes. If he wants to be a successful director in Kollywood, he must relook at his style of movie-making.
Vickram is a good actor in the portions of the movie where he shines, but he was let down by the debut director who had no idea how to have get the best out of him.
Amaan makes a good debut, and has alluring screen presence to firmly stamp her future in Kollywood.
The saving grace of Dear Radhi is the excellent cinematography by Lokesh Elangovan. He wields his magic throughout the movie by using beautiful colours, shades, breathtaking wide-angled shots and just the right amount of innovative lighting. Music director MS Jones does a decent job in the few songs and the background score.
Dear Radhi is a movie that I prayed it ended sooner rather than later. It is streaming on IPTV and Zee5.