The after hrs review: 'From Sydney With Love'

Film: From Sydney With Love
Director: Prateek Chakravorty
Cast: Prateek Chakravorty, Sharad Malhotra, Bidita Bag, Evelyn Sharma, Karan Sagoo, Sabyasachi Chakraborty
Rating: **

Prateek Chakravorty makes his debut in as many as four roles with this film, right from being the producer to writer, director and even actor.

While this Jack of many trades isn’t the master of any, he doesn’t disappoint on any count either. For a newcomer, he is fairly impressive in all roles, and even shows spark as a director and in parts as an actor. As a producer-writer, however, he sticks to a rather simple plot and a tried and tested formula of an underdog. But it’s the fresh treatment that evokes smiles in spite of the simplicity of it all.

The film starts off as being a campus caper. Megha (Bidita) a simple, middle-class Bengali girl from Bolpur with very strong moral values goes to study in Sydney where she befriends a group of friends — Raj (Prateek), Rohit (Sharad), Lubaina (Evelyn) and Suhel (Karan). Despite being clear in her head that she is there only to study, it’s the heart that wins. Love happens and so does a triangle. An over-weight Raj loves Megha, who loves the sweet, charming Rohit who has also fallen for her. A heartbroken Raj literally stomachs his pain as he goes on a bingeing spree, before finally coping with it aided by his happy-go-lucky nature. But then comes a twist and Megha suddenly goes back to India. Rohit follows her to woo her back, accompanied with a reluctant Raj, leading to many more entertaining moments at Megha’s house in Bolpur.

Sharad and Bidita are both well-cast in their roles and manage to make their characters endearing, though Sharad has little to do except flash a smile every now and then. Prateek is camera-friendly and puts his physicality to good use becoming Raj with ease! The rest of the cast too pass off convincingly but it’s Sabyasachi Chakraborty who makes an impact in his brief role as Megha’s father. Prateek plays it safe on all fronts and all characters get a balanced screen space. The cinematography is impressive, but the music is average and the editing too could have been tighter.

The film is being marketed as a famcom (family comedy), and well, it’s not wrong to call it that at all. It’s one of the light-hearted entertainers that you won’t exactly queue up for hours ahead, but won’t complain if you do find yourself having bought a ticket already. Watch it for some light-hearted fun moments.