When I first heard about Kirik Party, it didn’t seem all that exciting, considering that most college films feel like they’re written by middle-aged men with little memory of their own time at college, and often end up being crass, cheesy or an unhealthy mix of both.
When its trailer was released, it did however create enough of a buzz about being fresh and new. And thankfully, the film delivers nearly everything that the trailer promises.
There are only so many things that usually happen to college students, so Rakshit Shetty and gang live, love, laugh, cry, and try to grow up with a predictable set of classroom shenanigans, crushes, affairs, and campus brawls.
What makes this film work is that writers Rakshit Shetty and the Seven Odds and director Rishab Shetty are very conscious of just this fact. So, the film doesn’t try for profundity or complete novelty in terms of the story.
Indeed, the makers seem to follow quite well one of the lessons its protagonist learns – that it’s good to swalpa chill maadi and not take yourself too seriously.
So most of the film has a wonderful lightness of being, without being excessively silly. The dialogue writing, in particular, is excellent, with the film peppered with pleasing situational comedy that gets its laughs, without descending into cheap humour.
Nearly all of the humour in the film is in good taste, and works for the sharp timing and quick repartee, rather than relying on easy targets. Compared to the way student life played out in one of this year’s blockbusters, Jaguar – with fat jokes, the protagonist stalking his romantic interest and so on – it's easy to see how refreshingly humour is treated here.
The film is also very absorbing, despite running for nearly three hours, because it makes a genuine effort at giving old staples a new twist...just watch how the film choreographs its fight sequences.
One fight flows in slow motion to pleasant classical music in the background and a typewriter churning out a suspension notice in the foreground. Another is accompanied by breathless cricket commentary from Rakshit, as he beats the living daylights out of a group of students attacking him with bats and wickets.
The music by Ajaneesh Loknath is another hero of the film, as nearly every song is a potential earworm. Rakshit also does a surprisingly good job as the errant but good-hearted engineering student at the heart of the story, and gets adequate support in the first half from Rashmika Mandanna.
And Samyuktha Hegde, who takes over from Rashmika in the second half is adorable, even if there are points where she could tone down her sunshiney attitude.
Kirik Party may not be the most thought-provoking film to come out of Sandalwood in 2016, but it’s certainly a more than enjoyable way to bid goodbye to the year and ring in 2017.