Raghavendra Stores Movie Review: A true Jaggesh film with relevant and realistic subject

Review: Hayavadana (Jaggesh), a 41-year-old bachelor cook, works at his father’s (Dattanna) hotel, Raghavendra Stores. Vyjayanti (Shwetha Srivatsav), a classical singer, happens to taste the food at the hotel, and decides to hire them to cater for her wedding. But, on the wedding day, things go awry, and Hayavadana ends up marrying Vyjayanti instead. Challenging times ensue. Will they both find what they are looking for or will they part ways?

In a Jaggesh film, audience expect double-meaning dialogues, and there are plenty here. The second half dwells into serious issues like adoption and surrogacy. Fluttering back and forth, addressing a wide range of issues from politics to parenthood, leaves the audience unsettled. The humour, too, keeps swinging between funny and crude.

Jaggesh’s attempt to entertain and educate about the plight of 40-year-old virgins is credible. He is loud, funny and also scores on the emotional scenes. Shwetha, a soft-spoken woman, has an opposing personality to Hayavadana, and she has given an equally good performance. They balance each other well. The two are well-aided by powerful performers - Dattanna, Achyut Kumar, Mithra and Ravishankar Gowda, who all have memorable roles.

Director Santosh Anandram’s films always give out messages in the climax. Here, he picked a relevant and realistic subject, but the film ultimately ends up being a volley of innuendos, as he has only explored issues on the surface.

If you are a harddened ‘Jaggesh comedy’ fan you can watch it once in a theatre.