Andhra Pradesh

Fair to middling fare

Rajeev Kanakala in the film ‘Three… 13 play the game, only 3 complete it’.

Film: Three…13 play the game, only 3 complete it

Cast: Rajeev Kanakala, Urvasi Sharma

Direction: Shekar Suri

Nisha’s (Urvasi Sharma) parents live in the U.S. and are divorced. After her mother re-marries, she comes down to India and lives alone in a huge home. For some inexplicable reason, she hears strange voices threatening to kill her and fears that a person named Shankar could be the one responsible for it.

She first identifies Shankar’s (Shanti Chandra) voice and says he is the one who is stalking her and then shifts the blame onto Rajiv (Rajiv Kanakala). Neighbour Rishi and psychiatrist Harsha Vardhan help Nisha in the endeavour to solve the mystery.

This film works only on one level… from a craft point of view. Cinematography is sharp and suits the mood of the film. It is filled with good audio and visuals are great and the right background score.

The heroine is presented as a schizophrenic patient trying to come to terms sometimes with her past, sometimes future and the story finds its destination in “regression therapy”.

All Urvasi Sharma does is run, fall over, scream, look serious and sometimes wear funny bouffant to give some credibility to her past. She doesn’t have the typical South Indian face, slightly unconventional but does her part well.

In fact, there are good performances from everyone but it detracts from the script. The main thrust of ‘Three’ itself is a bit muddled; clearly the film has a good idea, but doesn’t quite have the expertise to really explore it. The movie’s tagline… ‘13 play the game, only three complete’ turns out to be a misnomer.

Y. Sunita Chowdhary

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu