Does love change with time? How long does love last between two individuals? Is it possible for two people to have the same amount of love all their lives? Questions like these form the base for Ram Charan’s new film Orange. It narrates the story of bloke who’s very practical and honest about his love, yet doesn’t want to be someone all his life. Directed by Bhaskar, the film also has Genelia in lead role.

What’s it about: Ram Charan Tej stars as Ram, a wildlife photographer and a graffiti artist who lives in Australia. He comes across Janu (Genelia), whose effervescence and innocence bowls him over almost immediately. Janu is a happy-go-lucky girl who loves the idea of falling in love with someone and one fine day bumps into Ram. She’s caught off-guard with his practical approach to life and love characterized by certain conditions, which eventually leaves her confused. As Ram tries to reason it out with her that his perspective about love is indeed true, Janu undergoes a massive transformation from her usual self. Does she comply with Ram’s perspective about love? That forms the rest of the story in this urbane flick.

What is Good: Orange sets itself apart right from the beginning. We are introduced to Ram who doesn’t want to love the girl anymore; although he’s madly in love with her. What makes Charan’s character interesting here is how adamant he is about everything he believes in. He wouldn’t compromise on anything and always tells the truth, even if it hurts the very girl whom he’s trying to impress. Ram Charan is convincing as a man full of ideals who tries to reason it out with Genelia at every possible juncture. The beauty of the film lies in their conversations and how well Bhaskar moulds the situation to elucidate Ram Charan’s quirky characterization. Take that scene in the pub where Charan and the rest of the gang play ‘Truth or Dare’ or even the one where he drives his car in breakneck speed; they are among the best scenes in the film which define the hero’s perspective on love. The level of confidence which the film’s protagonist, Ram exudes is noteworthy. He doesn’t coax the girl to the brink of madness but makes it a point to tell her why he’s the best possible guy she can find. On the other hand, Genelia is a revelation in the film. She starts off as a crazy girl who’s a bit too chirpy to live with and then she turns into someone who thinks on her own. The best part is, she knows what she wants by the end of the film and doesn’t want to budge in front of Ram’s sense of reasoning. Maybe it’s tough to live with that – knowing that you are in love with someone, yet won’t commit unless the other person believes in what you do.

The film is also laced with interesting subplots involving Charan’s own sister and brother-in-law, played by Manjula, Sanjay Swarup; another one about Charan’s earlier love story with Rooba (Shazahn Padamsee) whom he follows all the way to Mumbai. Shazahn Padamsee is gorgeous; although her role is short-lived, she makes her presence felt as the girl who’s responsible for Charan’s adamant nature. Brahmanandam is hilarious as Puppy. Srinivas Avasarala, Prabhu, Vennela Kishore, Praneeth and others lend credible performances.

What is bad: Orange treads upon a dangerous line which isn’t easy to relate to. Perhaps it’s our own perspective of love and how it should be which obstructs us from empathizing with the protagonist. The characters aren’t flawed by virtue of how they deal with things especially those related to the aspect of love. However, the conversations do get repetitive at times and the film’s conclusion is a bit hurried.

Technical Departments: Rajasekhar’s gorgeous cinematography makes sure that the film has a good visual appeal. Locales in Sydney and Melbourne add more charm to this sensible love story. Harris Jayaraj’s music is a huge asset to the film. In a way, romance comes alive in his tunes and the lyrics compliment the music pretty well. Since it’s a romantic film, the dance choreography is restrained to suit the theme. Marthand K Venkatesh’s editing is good. Bhaskar puts in a lot of effort in this script where the hero’s characterization is a bit difficult to empathize with in the beginning. He also take care that neither he nor the characters he creates are lost in the maze of their own characterization. No wonder, words like confuse, clarity are so often used in the film. Maybe, he was trying hard to tell us the same through his characters. A good effort, indeed!

Final Point: Love stories have been done to death on silver screen, yet Orange tries to look at love from a fresh perspective. It’s suave, crazy at times, unreasonable or even unfair at times. A point to observe is that it’s not candyfloss romance which would bring a smile on your face instantly. Bhaskar succeeds in narrating his perspective and he does it with great honesty. And the protagonist always speaks the truth. But let’s face it, truth is sometimes difficult to deal with. Question is- what would you prefer? Truth or Lie? Perhaps, we might have to play ‘Truth or Dare’ to answer that question.