Director Gangadhar Salimath tries to present Bengaluru as a start-up capital in more ways than one. What happens when youngsters are free to choose their professional life, unlike a conventional office goer? Ayana falls way short of our expectations, but the director’s attempt at trying something new deserves a pat on the back.

Cast: Deepak Subramanya, Apoorva Soma, Karthik, Ramesh Bhat, Sriharsha, Goutham, Vedashree, Nagashree Moksha.
Director: Gangadhar Satimath

The story is about a techie Aditya Adi (Deepak Subramanya) and his life. His bachelor days are filled with fun, friendship, and love, then comes marriage and the days that call for difficult decisions and choices.

There is also the storyline of the pressure a techie faces at work, and how it affects his family life, especially when it comes to having a child and even considering adoption. All is good except when the director shows women in a bad light.

The story is fresh, but unfortunately the film fails in its screenplay. The first half is dull even when there is scope for creative storytelling, but the second half adds more weight to the narrative.

Gangadhar also fails to connect to a larger audience, limiting his film’s setting to a ‘cosmopolitan Bengaluru’. Ayana is a Kanglish film, with more English than Kannada. The film could also have done with better editing.

Considering most of the young artistes in the movie come from theatre and they have truly done their best. But they seem to have confused cinema for a stage play. Aerial views seem to be the cinematographer’s favourite shot, and are used too often. The music of the film stands out, but there are way too many songs.

Ayana is definitely not for the masses, though it may find an audience among the tech crowd.