Yuva review: A new star is born — Yuva Rajkumar

The Kannada film Yuva revolves around hot-headed Yuvaraj played by Yuva Rajkumar, who studies as a hostelite in an engineering college in Mangaluru.

His ego gets the better of him, as he takes on the local students, ruffians, and goons.

When he returns home to Bengaluru after his studies, Yuva faces an unexpected crisis. This is when Yuva has to shoulder the responsibility of his family and learn life lessons.

Yuva Rajkumar is here to stay

Yuva is one of the most expected debut vehicles in Sandalwood in recent times.

The movie is the launchpad for Yuva Rajkumar, the grandson of Dr Rajkumar. It also boasts the combination of Hombale Films and Santhosh Ananddram — who delivered two memorable films with the late Dr Puneeth Rajkumar. Hence, there is everything hyped up about it.

But then, does it live up to the expectations? Well, it nearly does and gives you many paisa vasool moments.

The highlight of Yuva is the lead actor Yuva Rajkumar. He has a magnetic screen persona, where one cannot take their eyes off him.

He charms his way through romance, comedy, and drama and keeps you whistling for him when he fights or dances.

He even mouths the cult Puneeth Rajkumar dialogue, “Pataaki yaarde irali, antsor navagirbeku“. The makers have kept subtle Power Star homages, with one heartwarming one in the end.

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Perfect casting

Apart from this, the film looks great. There has been great detail to the visuals — through the frames or the sets.

The ensemble cast has been perfectly cast. But, with a big launch being the intent of the film, everyone has limited work to do and they impress in their ways.

Among those are Gopalkrishna Deshpande as the principal and Achyuth Kumar, Sudharani, and Hitha Chandrashekhar as Yuva’s family.

Sapthami looks great and gets a romantic song in Kashmir, too. But her role gets stunted.

Has its moments and flaws

This is where Yuva falters or should we say, there is the problem of excess. The filmmakers play very clinically, ticking every box required for a commercial film setting.

There is college, romance, gang wars, action, comedy, family drama, crisis, a chance for redemption and even a sports angle amidst everything.

With so much happening, just two and a half hours on screen seems little, especially when the makers have homages to be paid, too.

Further, some characters are shortchanged, especially the women who proclaim to be independent in regular intervals but are never more than that.

But this does not take away what the filmmakers have crafted, as it is a good sensory experience.

Yuva does have something for the entire family to watch together. There are some fun moments.

Does the final climax tug your heartstrings? That is debatable, for it did not for me. At the same time, it was an outing that I did not regret in the cinema hall either.

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Final take

Yuva ensures that a new star is born: Yuva Rajkumar. His mannerisms, dialogue delivery, and charm remind of his late uncle Puneeth Rajkumar.

And his entry comes at a much-needed time when the industry needs bankable heroes.

(Views expressed here are personal.)