For anyone who’s watched the actual Kannada version, the Tamil version is varied in terms of performances, music, and direction; the on-the-surface performances of the actors falls short in convincing us to relate to them but it has its moments that takes you by surprise.
As for Samantha, headlining a film all on her own for the first time, has opted for a rather safe choice here by playing Rachna in a film that was already lauded when it released two years back. This choice briefly digresses the fact that her “actual” comeback after her wedding with Chaitanya last year was Rangasthalam, a role that hardly left room for her to emote her way to a stellar performance. In U-Turn, she makes up for it and that has a lot to do with Samantha wanting to prove her critics wrong from all these years that she’s more than a pretty face and that she can be more than a prop to the male actors. That truly is something to write home about if not the relatively better performance.
The myriad of emotions that pendulum on her face every time there is a change in the scene ensures that the actress has quite the mettle left in her. However, a few misses here and there shows that the script did not go all the way to pose as a challenge to the actress who clearly has a lot more talent left in her to showcase. The Karma theme and the dancing is one for memory yet the film in itself is not worth the remembering for time to come.
Aadhi Pinisetty seems like nothing more than a prop with muscles in the movie and it is perturbing to say the least that he didn’t get his due screen time. Anirudh has done his bit with experimenting out of his comfort zone a welcome change for all the critics who are under the impression that all his songs sound the similar. Pawan Kumar’s direction, much like his original, deserves praise, where it is evident he has worked on the latest version and fine-tuned it to suit the Tamil and Telugu audience.
