Chaithra J Achar in ‘Happy Birthday to Me’
| Photo Credit: Jhankar Music/YouTube
If you had watched the trailer of Happy Birthday to Me, you might begin the Kannada movie knowing the film’s central conflict, waiting for the main twist to unfold. However, director Rakesh Kadri cleverly doesn’t delay the inevitable; the film straightaway gives you a reason to be curious about it.
Happy Birthday to Me is a trippy film about a birthday party gone wrong. Puneeth (Sidhaartha Maadhyamika) invites his “friend” Adithi (Chaithra J Achar) home to celebrate his birthday. The party never takes off as mysterious circumstances lead to Adithi’s death. Can Puneeth find a way out of this precarious situation?
There aren’t many Kannada films that explore the hilarious but uncertain world of ‘stoners’, and that makes Happy Birthday to Me a unique attempt. Kadri adds a crime angle to his story by letting the dead body drive the film‘s narrative — a concept that was partly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, as revealed by the director in his pre-release interviews.
Happy Birthday to Me is a film that consciously doesn’t take itself seriously. Hence, the film’s conclusion isn’t as important as what unfolds between the beginning and the climax. The director somewhat surpasses this challenge to offer a moderately engaging and funny film anchored by dialogues and performances.
Happy Birthday to Me (Kannada)
Director: Rakesh Kadri
Cast: Chaithra J Achar, Sidhartha Maadhyamika, Siddu Moolimani, Gopalkrishna Deshpande
Runtime: 112 minutes
Storyline: Puneeth invites his friend Adithi for his birthday party. Things go wrong when Adithi dies under mysterious circumstances.
The cast delivers a realistic performance, in sync with the film’s easy-going tone. Siddu Moolimani as Thirumalesh A.K.A Trippy, Puneeth’s friend and flatmate, keeps you smiling with his believable portrayal of a psychedelic guy. He carefully avoids jarring shifts in emotions and pulls off a funny act.
Gopalakrishna Deshpande, who plays the apartment’s owner, produces big laughs with his hilarious performance as a hallucinating man — who after accidentally popping an illegal street drug turns into a man fighting the Britishers’ invasion of Bengaluru by marshalling his army to the Silk Board junction (If you know, you know). His unhinged act sells this outrageous yet uproarious idea.
ALSO READ:Darshan case: Why it is unfair to blame the Kannada film industry at large
Some dialogues are chucklesome, like the one when Trippy, fearing he will be dragged to jail along with Puneeth for Chaithra’s death, wonders if prisons have a Western commode. Another scene has Trippy talking to strangers about filing a petition for establishing weed clinics in India. One says, “We can go to Magadi to smoke up instead of travelling to Manali.”
The same scene also has the three men joking about the possibility of growing weed on the moon. However, they go on and on about it, to an extent where we don’t find it funny anymore and want the film to move past the joke. The film has similar long and dull sequences, filled with dialogues that fail to land well. Not all situations involving visitors to Puneeth’s home are interesting, like a comedy involving a security guard.
The film has one-note characters, with the director giving minimal information about their backgrounds. The film does provide a reason behind Puneeth’s anger issues but doesn’t delve deep into it to add an extra layer to his story.
Happy Birthday to Me is inconsistently paced, and you need to stay patient for the best moments to pop up between the bland portions. However, despite the flaws, this is another indie Kannada movie attempting to break the mould, and full marks to Kadri and his team for daring to experiment. The film is perfect for a lazy Sunday with friends.
Happy Birthday to Me is currently streaming on Airtel Xstream, Hungama Play, Vadafone TV, JustWatch, Watcho and Tata Binge.
