Now Premiering - Krishna and his Leela

Krishna and his Leela – Cheesy Conversations, racy screenplay and upbeat music are the saving grace for this highly progressive, cliched and bloated relationship (drama) comedy. 

     *This movie is available on Netflix. Picture Credits - Netflix

Krishna and his Leela is unlike any other new-age rom-com in terms of the cinematic styling which foray’s at least into its presentation. It’s a drama-free zone. Yes, literally. We get a dialogue in the movie which says that there’s a thin line between drama and comedy. This movie, at surface level, is exactly on that line, but overall is inclining towards comedy, it’s better to call it satire. Krishna, who is torn apart from his now and ex-girlfriend has to face the circumstances of being the apple of discord.

The storyline is cliched. The treatment gets further obvious and repetitive. The relationship dynamics are so meticulously timed and sequenced that we start feeling the vairagya (detachment), as an audience, towards their problems. It’s cringy. Creating a flawed protagonist is surreal, but creating a foolish protagonist is cool, according to the movie’s treatment of people. 

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Krishna is a character whose range of personas lie between a Casanova and our beloved Pulihora Raja - being a man who is an expert in flirting, cheesy one-liners and of course, falling in love. With not just a woman, but two. Apart from being a boyfriend, he is a brother, a son to a divorced mom and polygamic father, a frustrated IT employee. These could have been a good list of conflicts resulting in more mature content. But mature here is getting preachy about one’s life by breaking the fourth wall, with a grown beard, under Himalayan rider clothing in snow, on a Royal Enfield, as a hungover, "broken up" lover (shout out for Dear Comrade fans). Writing a diary alone amidst nature, with this attire of withdrawn lover makes up for some character transformation, which otherwise is never seen. Everything in this movie is about flirting (even when one is committed), relationships, being cool, being progressive, casual sex, breakup, repeat. Also, few IT job frustrations, but it hardly counts.

The saving grace is the conversations (here breaking the fourth wall is considered as a chat than a monologue), Ruksaar character, great screenplay and upbeat music. The casual exchange of lines are very natural and hilariously written, even more hilariously delivered by Siddharth. Viva Harsha as Krishna’s bestie gets the role of better scope for his comedic talent. Ruksaar is the moral compass and the highly reasoned character, always having clarity between love and relationship( very much needed for the rest of the lot). The easy and fast-flowing screenplay always keeps the mood entertaining. Sricharan Pakala’s verve in dubstep songs and remixed background score of classical songs (though I detested the idea initially) perfectly goes hand to hand with the idea of the film. The smart closure which was partly niché and partly fun, was never awe-inducing but definitely satisfying. ( shout out to World Famous Lover fans)

A highly modern, light-hearted romantic comedy is the final product of this mixed baggage of pros and cons. If you didn’t like this opinion piece, then there’s a line for you from this movie – “Opinion is like an answer. Rest is your problem. Deal with it”

Just kidding. Or actually……Just being cool.