Harom Hara Movie Review

Sudheer Babu is known for picking unique concepts irrespective of the result of his previous film. This time, the actor picked a rustic action drama Harom Hara in Gnanasagar Dwaraka’s direction. The movie was released today in theaters. Here is the review from one of the US premieres.

What Is It About?

Subramaniam (Sudheer Babu) is a lab assistant who loses his job for getting into an altercation with the local mafia in Kuppam. Devi (Malvika Sharma) is his colleague and girlfriend. His friend Palani Saami (Sunil) accidentally gives him an idea for a gun manufacturing business. He soon becomes a gangster in the area. Who does he sell his guns to and what happens after that? Harom Hara answers these questions.

Performances

Sudheer Babu performed well for his role in Harom Hara. This is his first time appearing in a grey-shaded serious role and it suited him fine. Malvika Sharma is alright. She was given a limited screen presence.

Sunil gets a full-length supporting role and he breathed life into the character of Palani Saami. From the Kuppam slang to the body language, Sunil gave the finest performance. Jayaprakash and others did their part. Akshara Gowda appears as that one sincere police officer. Her role is typecasted.

Technicalities

The first thing that needs to be mentioned about Harom Hara is the music by Chaitan Bharadwaj. Though songs are ok, his background music is a delight when it joins the fight sequences. BGM remains the highlight for Harom Hara. The cinematography is good. The screenplay could be better.

Thumbs Up

Background Music
Sudheer Babu
Sunil

Thumbs Down

Second half
Pushpa & KGF Hangover
Pale Drama

Analysis

The biggest action blockbusters in the last few years set a benchmark for the genre films, but many directors could not get out of the hangover from those films. Harom Hara reminds us of movies like Pushpa and KGF more than often, yet it has its assets. Sudheer Babu’s Harom Hara is a gangster drama set in the 80s showing one person rising against the established dons to become one.

Harom Hara starts with an ordinary setup but quickly shifts the gear to action mode making it interesting. The intense fight sequences were shot well and the extraordinary background music compliments them. Though the romantic drama is passive and typical, the action part made the first half appealing. The interval action episode remains the highlight of all. It was lengthy but enthralling all along.

The second half of Harom Hara starts on a predictable note and continues in it. The template scenes like the protagonist emerging as a don cum demigod to an honest police officer waiting to put him behind bars, Harom Hara follows the well-known format. Besides suffering from similarities, Harom Hara falling for a familiar narrative leaves the second half slower and unexciting. There are many bad guys, yet the villainy appears weak. The family drama with Malavika Sharma and Jayaprakash is standard.

Sudheer Babu excelled in the action sequences, which always is his asset. Sunil supported him very well from start to end. This is one of the best roles Sunil has recently done and his performance is remarkable. Music director Chaitan Bharadwaj who stole the show with Mangalavaram, made his music play a crucial role in Harom Hara.

However, the action episodes and the background music rescues the film to some extent. While the logic in the current day cinema is to be put at rest, the villain gang attacking the protagonist with machetes even after buying tons of guns from him is something that looks a bit odd. The drama runs underwhelming due to the weak establishment of the main characters. The protagonist emerges like a ‘Heisenberg of Breaking Bad’ just in a song and a couple of cigarettes, while the big shots in the area act clueless with his rise.

The climax also is predictable but when some action with racy background music is about to make it engaging, the hangover kicks in with the ‘big gun’ which is the most common character in many movies from Vikram to Animal.

Overall, Harom Hara has an interesting setup, good visuals, and action sequences with outstanding background music, but the weak villainy and pale drama make it a ordinary film.

Bottomline: Packed Action – Lacked Drama

Rating: 2.5/5