Cast : Sumanth, Swati, Subbaraju, Tanikella Bharani

Music : Kalyani Malik

Cinematography : Senthil

Written By : Hari Mohan (The Men Within)

Producer : Ram Mohan

Director : Indraganti Mohan Krishna

Films like Golconda High School are quite tricky. They demand that you applaud them for the noble intentions with which they are made and quite often tend to go to any length to make you do so. But then, there’s a thin line of differene between being genuinely good and wanting to be good. Golconda High School falls in the second category. While this is no reason to be disheartened about, sometimes it’s not good enough to be honest especially when it comes to cinema. What we need is a little bit of drama to infuse life into the story. Golconda High School, starring Sumanth, Tanikella Bharani, Subbaraju, Swathi and a bunch of school kids has been directed by Indraganti Mohankrishna, who had earlier made a fine film titled Ashta Chemma.

Here, Sumanth stars as Sampath, an erstwhile student of Golconda High School which is losing its glory. The school cricket team hasn’t managed to go to the second level of Inter-School cricket tournament for 15 years. Meanwhile, a board trustee Kireet (Subbaraju) plans to construct a coaching complex in place of this playground. The school’s principal opposes the idea and in turn convinces Sampath to take up the job of a cricket coach to bring back the lost glory. Sampath and Kireet have a face-off on this issue and the duo agree upon a challenge that if the GolcondaHigh school teams wins a cricket tournament then Kireet would resign otherwise the construction of coaching complex would be imminent. How Sampath inspires a bunch of kids to fight against all odds forms the rest of the story.

The theme of the film instantly reminded me of films like Lagaan and Samuel L Jackson’s Coach Carter. However, that isn’t much of a problem in GHS where the central theme of the film is promising to begin with. We know that the film is going to end on a happy note, but what’s important here is how they reach that end. While the aforementioned films like Lagaan, Coach Carter and even Chak De for that matter had a well-framed core conflict where everyone fighting for their rights are well-aware of why they want to do it and what they are doing, there’s hardly anything like that in GHS. The kids are aware that they are at a risk of losing the playground, the way they reach their finals makes it look like they have had it too easy. It’s just not gripping enough. Part of the reason is how shallow most of the characters are. They are lovable but shallow. You like them for what they are but wonder if they are aware of the enormity of the situation. And when you are someone who would rather flip to another channel rather than watch Cricket, you can imagine what the state would be like to watch school cricket where almost every other ball is whacked to a boundary!

There are quite a few things which work in the film. The main heroes of the film are the eleven kids who form the school cricket team. And the fact that they are all real school kids adds authenticity to the roles they play in. Another actor who infuses life into his role is Subbaraju who plays Kireeti, the school board’s trustee. Although he has very few scenes, he portrays his cunningness, desperation so well that you would want him to stay much longer. Among other actors, Tanikella Bharani stands out. Sumanth gives his best shot to perform his job to perfection, but the role has a surprisingly low leeway which doesn’t allow him to have anything other than a bemused look for a major part of the film. Some of the best scenes in the film happen to be the training sessions. The tension between the cricket team and the coach is very well written and the actors live it up.

The final act, rather the climax of the film needs to be written about. After restraining themselves for a near 100 odd minutes without resorting to any melodrama, Indraganti Mohankrishna, the director of the film tries his hand at every possible trick in the book to “raise the stakes” before and during the grand finale.

Kalyani Malik’s score is decent and one of the songs, Jaagore is inspiring. Senthil, the cinematographer of the film, does a good job in capturing all the drama on the cricket field. Mohan Krishna Indraganti’s adaptation of the novel has its ups and downs, but the effort put in to narrate a story set in a school is noteworthy.

Golconda High School moves away from the clichéd stories which have become the norm of the day. But then, sometimes being honest isn’t good enough. Perhaps, a little more drama wouldn’t be too much to ask for to infuse some life into this predictable, sugar-coated, insipid film. It’s like a chocolate-wafer. It looks great on the outside and you try desperately hard to like it because someone else loved it, but then you realize that it’s not filling. Give me a burger anyday. They may be harmful to health, but totally worth it!

By

Hemanth