Journey (2024)

Journey

The Tollywood mainstream cinema has made us believe that ‘entertainment’ is basically a dull-witted formula of ‘hero entry’ followed by a robust heroine, an impossibly romantic love story, interval bang, hit and run narrative, flashy editing, flashback with five songs, six fights and a comedy track thrown in.

So naturally when a film comes along trying to piece together a story from one cathartic accident, moving back and forth in time and unraveling characters through flashbacks, piece by piece filling in the blanks in the narrative it’s hard not to go wow.

And it’s understandable that it is a Tamil film dubbed into Telugu; and dubbed well at that. You can’t believe it is made by a first timer. Saravanan has shown flair for this film. Every frame of this two and a half hour movie is fresh and original taking you to its disturbing climax.

It’s difficult to talk about the story of the film because there isn’t any. The movie traces two working class love stories Jai, a tool man in mechanical workshop and strong minded nurse Madhumathi (Anjali), who are couple one while Amrutha Gautam (Sharwanand) pair represents small town girl meets city boy at beginning of his career.

The romance between these couples is real and celebrates the ordinariness of their lives; following through the by-lanes of down market Chennai (Hyderabad for the purpose of dubbed version but Tamil signboards just give it away) captures enchanting slices of life. There’s charming chemistry between these couples largely thanks to smart but realistic lines. The humour is real; performances spot on.

The ladies clearly stole the show well at least looking through male eyes. Anjali as fiercely independent overbearing Madhumathi who always calls shots is quite endearing; Ananya playing innocent small town girl with her insecurities dished out performance that is both flamboyant and understated; Sharwanand put up terrific show he’s calm collected in first half changes gears exuding anguish turmoil in second; Jai was also very good.

But what really stands out is taut screenplay cutting in out of flashbacks. It’s a narrative style that keeps you on your feet gradually unraveling the tragedy. Climax gets a little too melodramatic and a little too bloody as well might not go down well with the ‘happy ending lovers’ among movie goers. Editing deserves special mention adding value to narrative flow. Then there is pretty pertinent message as well.

The filmmaker tries to make you ponder over everyday tragedies which are reported routinely everyday, but end up as just another count in a news story. Whether you agree with it or not is another matter altogether but if nothing else film makes for an engaging viewing.

Watch Journey For Free On Gomovies.