Striking moments trapped in a sea of oversimplified ideas

Debutant director Viswa Karun's Dilruba walks the fine line between philosophy and pop wisdom with the grace of a motivational speaker on a slippery stage.

- ADITYA DEVULAPALLY

Debutant director Viswa Karun's Dilruba walks the fine line between philosophy and pop wisdom with the grace of a motivational speaker on a slippery stage. The film is an earnest, character-driven love story with enough philosophical musings (and many references to Puri Jagannadh's podcast), but also suffers from an elementary quality that reduces complex emotions to WhatsApp-forward-level quotes.

Kiran Abbavaram plays Siddharth, a stubborn, heartbroken youngster attempting to outgrow the emotional debris left by his ex, Maggie (Kathy Davison). Having a strong repulsion to the words 'sorry' and 'thank you,' because of a traumatic experience with Maggie's family, Siddharth relocates to a college in Mangalore to move on in life. There, the charming and persistent Anjali (Rukshar Dhillon) enters his life, pursuing him with an almost romantic relentlessness until he falls for her. But as their love story blooms, conflict arrives, forcing Siddharth to confront his aversion to apology. Will he hold on to his pride, or will love push him towards growth?

It's a premise ripe with emotional conflict, but Dilruba often mistakes heavy-handed verbiage for profundity. The film opens with a statement—'Strong men don't have attitude, they have character'—so broad it feels designed to be slapped onto a motivational poster or, worse, a status update. The dialogue is peppered with philosophical nuggets like 'Men who don't make mistakes are heroes, but men who realize their mistakes are bigger heroes,' or 'Life revolves around two words: sorry and thank you.' If this sounds like philosophy boiled down for teenagers, it's because it probably is.