Sreemanta Movie Review: A film celebrating farmers and village festivities

India has always been an agrarian country, and there is no doubt that farmers are an integral part of our nation’s economy. However, despite the crucial nature of their job, the farming industry faces severe challenges. In our pursuit of technological advancement, many of us have overlooked them and no longer empathise with the difficulties and sacrifices of farming families. Farmer suicides are increasing due to the undermining of their rights. Most youngsters migrate to cosmopolitan cities to make a different living. The question remains: will they survive or return to their roots? Filmmaker Hassan Ramesh’s debut film, Sreemanta, revolves around one such pertinent question.

Director: Hassan Ramesh
Cast: Sonu Sood, Kranti Revana Siddappa, Vaishnavi Menon, Vaishnavai Patwardhan, Ravishankar Gowda, Ramesh Bhat, and Raju Talikote

The movie begins with Sudeep’s voice-over explaining the importance of farmers and their lifestyle in rural areas. Set in and around Kopla, Sreemanta follows the life of Krishna (Kranti Revana Siddappa), son of Shanthamma (Kalyani), who depends on his farmland. However, influenced by some circumstances and his friends, Krishna contemplates travelling to Bengaluru city to seek a better life as a seven-year drought has affected them. His mother strongly opposes his decision, and Krishna, respecting her wishes, navigates his life based on traditional ideals. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

Meanwhile, the film explores a love story with Krishna falling in love with Padma (Vaishnavi Menon), the daughter of the village chief (Charan Raj). Later the villagers decide to celebrate a festival to thank the village deity, providing a vibrant glimpse of a village festival filled with dance, songs and drama, unlike anything seen before. They even engage a drama director and assistant (Ramesh Bhat and Tabla Nani) to teach the villagers the nuances of acting. At this juncture, a priest tells Padma that she has to struggle a lot to join hands with her lover, and instructs her to perform a special pooja at another village. At this juncture, Ruchi (Vaishnavi Patwardhan) arrives at the village to act in the drama. She becomes closer to Krishna, and their journey forms one part of the Sreemanta storyline. The festive occasion becomes the reason behind the actor Sonu Sood’s arrival in this village. In an extended speech during the last half-hour, he explains the importance of agriculture and farmers.

Director Hassan Ramesh deserves appreciation for creating a captivating atmosphere and incorporating thought-provoking lines about agriculture. Hamsalekha’s music enhances the village-based subject and the songs are melodious. The problem with this movie is its duration of almost 180 minutes, which doesn’t work in favour of the film.

As far as the performance of the artists is concerned, both the heroines look beautiful and played their part well. Kranti Revana Siddappa looks stoic in most of the scenes. He has to go a long way in case he wants to establish himself as an actor. Sadhu Kokila’s performance serves no purpose given the already crowded cast. Raju Talikota, who played a harmonium player, has nothing to do except complain about others. Ramesh Bhat, Charan Raj, and Ravi Shankar Gowda provide good support. Kalyani has done an good job with her performance and dialogue delivery
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If you appreciate Hamsalekha’s music or want to explore the lifestyle of farmers in rural areas and experience village festivities, Sreemanta is worth watching.