18 Pages review: Teetering on the fence of feel-good emotions 

K. Ramya Sree

Cast- Nikhil Siddhartha, Anupama Parameswaran in lead roles
Director- Palnati Surya Pratap 
Producer- Bunny Vas under GA2 Pictures 
Writer- Sukumar 
Music Director- Gopi Sundar 
Cinematography- A Vasanth

Nikhil Siddhartha and Anupama Parameswaran have reunited for a feel-good love drama directed by Kumari 21F’s Palnati Surya Pratap, after a pan-India hit. The story is written by director Sukumar. 18 Pages, after much delay, has finally hit the theatres world-wide on Friday.

Plot: 
Starring Nikhil Siddhartha and Anupama Parameswaran in lead roles, 18 Pages is a romantic love drama. Sidhu (played by Nikhil Siddhartha) is an IT employee who is developing an app to connect with ‘our people’ while we live far away from them. He bumps into a diary written by Nandini (played by Anupama Parameswaran) and gets mesmerised by her way of leading a life and the importance she gives to human connection. She is not any woman of the present generation who is always on social media. She is a humble, smart, and simple person with values. Moved by her philosophies, Sidhu begins to lead a life that Nandini likes. While he continues to read her diary, he realises she is in big trouble and tries to find her while simultaneously fulfilling all her desires.

Analysis: 
Sidhu is a person with strong emotional attachments. He faces a hard breakup when he comes across Nandini’s diary. That 18-page content in her diary changes his life radically as he attempts to move on from the difficult breakup.

In terms of the plot, the filmmaker and Sukumar chose human connection as a distinctive and essential topic. Social media has taken over our lives in recent years, which has made it difficult for people to connect. The director deserves praise for picking this subject, and he did a good job at communicating it, but the narration dragged a little. The influence of Sukumar’s writing could be seen in practically every scene. In the whole film, feelings trump logic.

The emotional connection was a little lost between the lines, the script and directing were a little plodding, and a couple sequences appeared to be staged. The screenplay lacked some cohesion; it appeared that several scenes were added merely to lengthen the movie. The music was good, particularly the song “Time Ivvu Pilla.”

Performances:
Nikhil looked bloated and stout in a few frames and chiselled in a few others. It’s possible that this is because the film took a long time to complete and the actor failed to maintain the same physique throughout the film.On the acting front, there was much more expected from Nikhil, but he meagerly impresses us with his performance. He was out of sync with the dialogue in many scenes. Anupama, on the other hand, looked lovely despite playing a de-glam character. Her acting was incredibly endearing, but occasionally it felt like her philosophical dialogues were going overboard. The justice she did to her character as Nandini will bring a smile to your face. 7 Arts Sarayu also steals the attention in the film with her performance. Her dialogue and dialect work out well.

There isn’t much to say about the performances of Posani Krishna Murali and Ajay because they were just there.

The characters in the film are designed in an exquisite way. The love story is enjoyable.

Conclusion: 
The second half contains some unexpected turns, while the first half is all about love. This is a novel interpretation of a new-age love story that makes you feel good inside. You’ll undoubtedly smile for a little while as a result. Even though the writing drags, the 18 Pages movie is worth watching for the message, the plot, and the feel-good and cute vibes.

Rating: 2.5/5