Cuttack: Clown, prankster, dreamer, actor...and you can go on tagging him. But what comes out as a conclusive statement on Sanju, the protagonist played by Babushan, in Sister Sridevi is he is a sweet rascal with a heart full of love. Frantically trying to win the heart of his lady love, he makes all out effort to thwart her engagement with another man. In this attempt, he gets into the garb and make up of Sister Sridevi, the character of a nurse, which brings him closer to his doctor girlfriend and finally unites them.
A refreshingly new concept in Odia film industry, Tarang Cine Production’s Sister Sridevi is very unlike an Ashok Pati-directed movie. No exotic locales and no serious business. Laced with doses of humour, the film perfectly fits into the genre of fun-filled romantic love story.
Most importantly, the film connects with the audience for many reasons. First, Sanju is like the boy next door, who has nothing to do other than a couple of roles as extras in local theatres. He belongs to a normal family with an ordinary upbringing. His real and reel life mother played by Aparijita adds to the ‘real’ factor in the movie. His feelings for a girl who he calls ‘whistle’ are commonplace. The locales in which the film is shot are nothing imaginary neither exquisite. Sequencing of shots is as fluid as happenings in a normal mundane life. In short, the common youngster can easily identify with the film as much as the characters.
Though there are a couple of double entendres which made the masses go berserk in theatres, the film does not cross a limit.
Mihir Das in a short role is as usual good. Aparajita stands out as a natural. Shivani, the lead actress and debutante (she had been a child actor) has not been able to prove her mettle. Babushan clearly steals the show being strikingly good as much in a female role as male.
Songs in the film scored by Abhijit Mazumdar have already been chartbusters since audio release. However, the filming of most songs adds to the popularity particularly in ‘chuni tale black money’ and ‘naagin naagin.’
Sister Sridevi is an entertainer. If not for anything else, a must watch for the sake of Babusan.