45 Review: Shivarajkumar’s Ambitious Film Blends Mythology With Mass Moments

While Arjun Janya’s ’45’ dives into themes about life and death through a modern lens, it gets lost in its own complexity, leaving its lead actors Shivarajkumar, Upendra and Raj B Shetty to save the ambitious film.

Arjun Janya impressively gives solid screen time to all three stars of his directorial debut, 45. He has not roped in

Shivarajkumar, Upendra, and Raj B Shetty only to entice people to theatres. The ace music composer also shows promise in his first attempt at direction.

45 begins well, with the plot being introduced in gripping fashion. Vinay, an IT employee, dreams of an accident that leads to his death. The next day, he observes that things are unfolding just like how he saw in his dream, including his bicycle crashing into a dog, killing it on the spot. Vinay cautiously avoids the ill fate he met in his dream, but also gets curious about life after death.

To his shock, he begins facing dangerous situations described in the documentary. While he represents the soul in Garuda Purana, Upendra enters the scene as the representation of Yamaraja, the god of death.

Named Rayappa, Upendra plays a ruthless baddie. Rayappa is angry at Vinay for killing his dog and gives him 45 days to live, vowing to kill him after that. In the Hindu traditions, 45 days after death marks a significant milestone, indicating the completion of the soul’s journey.

45 (Kannada)

Director: Arjun Janya
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Upendra, Raj B. Shetty, Sudharani, Rajendran, Pramod Shetty
Runtime: 150 minutes

Storyline:

The film delves into the concepts of life, death and destiny through the intersecting journeys of three men.
If this review reads like lessons on religion and mythology, then it’s a reflection of the film. Arjun Janya throws one piece of information at you after another, instead of offering an engaging cinematic experience.

The first-time director jumps onto the Kantara bandwagon as a religious theme forms the core of 45. That said, an interesting premise is undone by poor execution.

Set in the present, the script attempts to be a blend of satire and thrills on modern day problems, but there is too much melodrama (the often-tried mother-sentiment angle). Thanks to Shivarajkumar‘s enjoyable performance, some portions play out with light-heartedness, with a spirited Raj B Shetty complementing his senior colleague.

The star power of 45 rescues an uneven plot, with Upendra joining the party with a typical yet watchable eccentric performance. Take the triumvirate out of the equation, and 45 is a preachy take on several half-baked themes, including a philosophical commentary on man’s fear of losing his job, love, and the ultimate fear of losing his life.

While the film sustains a fair amount of curiosity factor, the proceedings are mostly dull, with the biggest flaw being the long and bland action sequences, except for one realistically staged rain fight scene, which is propelled further by a spirited performance.

hat scene is proof that 45 isn’t entirely disappointing. Some thought has gone into Shivarajkumar’s goofy character, while Arjun Janya also shows flashes of brilliance in the staging scenes, especially the ‘massy’ introduction scene featuring Shivarajkumar. Even the humor, blended with references to classics of Upendra and Shivarajkumar, works to an extent.

The VFX portions don’t stand out, but they aren’t unwatchable either. However, the negatives outweigh the positives in 45. The film lacks focus, and its complex narrative structure is its biggest drawback. It’s as if the director wanted to convey too many things but chose a convoluted route, eventually ending up with an uneven product.

45 is currently running in theatres

Every movie that releases tries to give you a fresh story with a different outlook on life, and 45 falls exactly in that category.

Music composer turned director Arjun Janya makes his debut with 45, an ambitious project which brings together three talented giants of Sandalwood, namely Shivarajkumar, Upendra and Raj B Shetty. Janya draws inspiration from the Garuda Purana and presents a story that blends mythology, relationships, karma, death and cosmic justice.

29-year-old Vinay (Raj B Shetty) is a middle-class software engineer whose life gets upended after he accidentally runs across a dog named Rosie. Rosie happens to be in Rayappa’s (Upendra) life and he, in fact, calls Rosie his ‘mother’. An angry and vengeful Rayappa declares that he will get revenge on Vinay in exactly 45 days (hence the title 45). Incidentally, 45 is also the number of days it takes for a dead person’s soul to reach its final destination as per Garuda Purana.

When Vinay happens to see a documentary on this and it relates to his own life, he starts to feel fear. For a young man who dreamed of a regular life of work, marriage and kids, the encounter with Rayappa changes the trajectory of his life journey. Now, a desperate Vinay, who is looking to change his destiny and the 45-day deadline, meets Shivappa / Shivu / Shivanna (Shiva Rajkumar) and this man becomes his protector who will help escape the clutches of death / Yama. So, does Vinay manage to stay alive at the end of 45 days?

Director Arjun Janya must be applauded for choosing a bold,

spiritually anchored theme for his debut movie and one that is unique to Kannada cinema. What he has tried to do is to use less of the commercial aspects of films, like song-and-dance routines and romance, and solely focus on the three main divergent characters and their relationship. But the narrative and screenplay have lags, and the execution is uneven. Some of the scenes in the first half are too long, and we see the tried-and-tested formula being applied often.

Of course, the director has his strengths given that he has been a successful music director. For a first-time director, the film’s visuals, pacing of key action and metaphysical sequences, and balancing of the three major stars in his story must be appreciated. 45 is visually rich as it has plenty of VFX but the VFX is executed poorly in some places bringing down the film. Relying on the VFX to take forward the story rather than a strong narrative is also a negative for the film.

In a story where the metaphysical meets spectacle meets performance, it is not easy to blend a philosophical theme with mass entertainment aspects such as elevating the hero, the hero’s entrance, the goosebump moments thanks to the hero’s dialogue, action sequences, and so on. Arjun Janya has tried his best to achieve this but only succeeds partially. The film at times feels preachy due to the dialogues, and this can cause audience fatigue. Janya has structured the screenplay as three worlds – played by the three actors – and connecting them one sees some predictability, some confusion and a dilution of the core theme.

Now, Arjun Janya has also donned the role of music director of 45 and given that is one of his strengths, one expected the BGM to be outstanding. Unfortunately, the music falls short and one wonders whether Janya should have roped in someone else for the music as this was a big directorial project for him.

As for the editing by KM Prakash, it could have been executed better as some transitions are very abrupt, and there appears to be an uneven rhythm. The cinematography by Satya Hegde was predicted to be one of the highlights of the film and it is. Hegde’s striking frames, especially in the superstar face-offs, for instance, create high-impact visuals and are a crowd-pleaser. But the integration of VFX and cinematography isn’t seamless, and there is inconsistency.

Shivarajkumar, Upendra, and Raj B Shetty have three distinct roles, and they excel in their performances. Shivarajkumar’s character is layered and has emotional weight, and his performance is one of the key highlights of 45. He exhibits mass-hero energy with philosophical depth, and this is a win.

On the other hand, Upendra comes across as unpredictable and darkly engaging, and as it is unlike the usual villain tropes, he adds more drama and flair to 45. Raj B Shetty does what he does best in his films – plays an ordinary man who conveys authentic fear, vulnerability, and relatability, with such sincerity that it completely engages the audience. At its core, 45 is about the performances of these actors which truly elevates the film and is the most consistent in the story.

45 is an ambitious

philosophy-driven spectacle that blends mythology, mass moments and existential themes, elevated by commanding performances from Shivarajkumar, Upendra, and Raj B Shetty. Music director Arjun Janya makes a promising directorial debut but next time around, he should just focus on one department.

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