A montage of images and an accident form the opening scenes of the Telugu film Rainbow. While one thought Rainbow is supposed to be colourful, it begins on a grim note with a series of flashbacks.
The patient: Shyamal Rao alias Shyam (Rahul) who is lying in hospital rewinds...
Director V N Aditya also wears the producer's hat with Rainbow, a love triangle he makes with Sonal Chauhan (Jannat's heroine makes her debut in Telugu) and Sindhu Menon.
Shyam is an orphan who lives in the house of Maruthi Rao (Gollapudi) and his son Srihari Rao (Parachuri Venkateswara Rao). He earns his living by painting hoardings for a paint company. Srihari's mute daughter has a fondness for Shyam. Enter Swapna (Sonal Chauhan) in his life. And Shyam goes all out to help her to realise her dream of becoming a heroine. In the process falls in love with her.
Due to the accident he suffers from a peculiar disorder whereby he can't see colour and he does not reveal this to Swapna. But Swapna does not feel that way when Shyam expresses his love for her. She realises her ambition and becomes a top heroine but goes too far...Can she reach Shyam when she needs him?
The story is a pretty known one and we have seen it in other languages before. Although V N Aditya has tried to infuse colour into his rainbow it essentially remains in black and white. In that sense, the story telling is rather tepid and slow. At times, one gets the impression of lifelessness. There is some effort made to induce some melodrama and mushiness but it seems to fall flat eventually due to lack of punch.
The performances are just about average and could do with some improvement. Rahul is earnest in his portrayal. He tries hard but somehow has more or less the same stock expressions in some instances.
Sonal brings in the oomph factor of the film particularly in the second half and the songs. Her acting is passable. Sindhu's acting is satisfactory too. Directors Kodi Ramakrishna Rajamouli, Srinu Vytla put in appearances, while Rajamouli's extends over a few scenes.
Nihal's music is slightly different. Television artiste Sangita Ghosh has a dance sequence.
Santosh Srinivas does his camera work fairly well, while art direction by Anand Sai is okay.
In a nutshell, this rainbow has a rather dull palette.
Rediff Rating: