Gara Review: Overly sensationalised adaptation of RK Narayan's An Astrologer's Day

Does a film depend on the background of the director? This point to ponder occurs to us after watching Gara, which has KR Murali Krishna taking care of the script, screenplay, and direction. The engineer-turned-advocate-turned-producer makes his directorial debut with the film. 

Inspired by RK Narayan’s An Astrologer’s Day, Gara revolves around a mind game between Gangaswamy aka Nishant (Rahman), Akasmika (Avantika), and Bhageeratha (Pradeep Aryan). They go all out to excel in everything they do, and to this end they use these mind games as a tool. 

Director: KR Murali Krishna
Cast: Rahman, Avantika, Pradeep Aryan, Johnny Lever, Sadhu Kokila

The winner and losers in the journey form a triangular love story, which ultimately ends in a philosophical climax. The film takes on the themes of guilt and relief, but it ends up feeling like a play with over-dramatic performances. To begin with, Gara comes across as a simple story, however, the director makes it complicated with too many plot threads running in parallel, and with the same characters in all of them.  

There is a lot of detailing in this 158-minute film, but at some point, the story and characters get out of hand. Everything about Gara is sensationalised, including the actors’ performances -- Rahman, Avantika, Pradeep Aryan and Aryan Sharma all go overboard with their acting.   

It's also unfortunate that despite roping in a legendary comedian like Johnny Lever, the director has not made use of the actor’s ability. Sadhu Kokila as Jugari is underutilised as well. A surprise guest in the film is the yesteryear heroine, Roopa Devi, who has mostly worked with Dr Rajkumar. She makes a special appearance in Gara, along with Neha Patil, while senior actor Ramakrishna is seen in a blink-and-miss role.

The only positives in Gara are the picturesque locations, the cinematography by HC Venu, and Sagar Gururaj's music. Everything else gets a thumbs down.