Dear Comrade Review: Inconsistent and Disappointing!

Amidst showcasing an emotional love-story and delivering a significant social message, Dear Comrade starring Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles stumbles to narrate a story with an invariable throughline. Directed by Bharat Kamma, this 170-minute drama also stars Shruti Ramachandran, Suhas and a bunch of well-known names as the supporting cast with Justin Prabhakaran scoring the music for the film.

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The storyline of the film delves into the life of Bobby (Vijay Deverakonda), a student and a union leader fighting for injustice and primary student rights. Consequently, he accidentally comes across his guest neighbor, Lilly (Rashmika Mandanna), a state cricket player and an overall exuberant individual. After learning about her a bit more, he expresses his love for her as the primitive part of the first half parades the couple’s relationship that leads to problems and consequences.

Comprised of three different phases in the lead character’s lives, the inconsistent screenplay is one of the many reasons why Dear Comrade didn’t feel entirely gratifying to watch. The seamless transition from one point to another is not organic, and the volatile pacing didn’t do any favours either. The first half adheres to a humdrum love story, but, similar to Vijay’s 2017 film, Arjun Reddy, there’s very little explanation to why the couple falls in love with each other, especially Lilly. Deverakonda plays the erratic angry young lad once again who has his ways of treating the woman he loves and Mandanna somehow finds, sunshine and rainbows within his irresponsible behavior.

After ending the first half on a predictable note, the unstable storyline and screenplay issues destruct the film’s overall quality even more. It moves in a direction I did not foresee, but because the narrative shifts from one gear to another abruptly it didn’t feel impactful enough for the most part. Certain plot points which occupied a decent chunk of the runtime did not factor or felt ignored in the long run as the movie completely changed its tone in the final act. However, justifying its tagline “Fight for What You Love,” the climax corroborated with few powerful moments and conveyed a significant social message which felt thoughtful.

Moving on to the performances, Vijay Deverakonda fits into these rebellious roles flawlessly. The fire, emotion and desire that his character demands are visible in his facial expressions, mannerisms and body language as we’ve seen him deliver in his previous films. Additionally, the female lead Rashmika Mandanna has a bit more to explore as the concerned girlfriend and a cricketer with an ambition. She portrayed her character beautifully and operated as a suitable counterpart to Vijay’s psyche role. Justin Prabhakaran’s euphonious background score hoisted the film’s overall emotion and was exceptional all around. Also, Sujith Sarang’s camera-work gave the movie a much-better and broader cinematic look from the old nostalgic whereabouts in Kakinada to the scenic visuals of North India and Kerala.

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Overall, the screenwriting issues and the unsteady storyline weakens the overall quality of the movie despite closing with a strong social message. The sweet chemistry between Deverakonda and Mandanna, the melodious background score by Prabhakaran and Sarang’s exquisite cinematography only helps the film to tick certain boxes, but certainly not all of them. Dear Comrade is a disappointment which may appeal only to a limited set of audience.