This is a pretty unique film. On one level, it is a love story with a young, easy-on-the-eyes couple – and yet, it isn’t quite that love story.
Spoilers ahead…
You can read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/dear-comrade-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan-vijay-deverakonda/
The first few scenes of Bharath Kamma’s Dear Comrade look like outtakes from Arjun Reddy. Bobby (Vijay Deverakonda) is a stud-rebel hero who pees all over conventional notions of heroism – quite literally so. He is introduced while relieving himself in a public toilet. A cigarette is stuck at the corner of his mouth. His walk is a drunken stagger. He lashes out at others, manufacturing a fight out of thin air, as though to relieve himself of his aggression. But he’s hurting. His eyes are wet. He goes to a phone booth to make a call. When it doesn’t get through, he smashes the glass walls, rips the receiver off, holds it in his bleeding hand and tries making the call… again. He doesn’t realise the telephone is as dead as he feels inside. In a short span, Vijay Deverakonda has made the Devadas as Temperamental Rockstar™ slot his own, and when you see the film’s tagline (“Fight for what you love”), it appears that this “love” is the person (Lilly, played by Rashmika Mandanna) Bobby was making that bloody-handed call to. Red is, after all, a Comrade’s colour.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Krishna
July 29, 2019
While the trailers and promos suggest this is an extension (or worse a rehash) of Arjun Reddy and Geetha Govindham, I’m glad to hear it’s more than that. Hoping to catch it in theaters soon..
On a different note, Many folks (actors/directors) have said they wanted to do something different, over the years.. It’s surprising that something as “trivially different” as the role reversal here heroine-lead-and-hero-support-cast hasn’t been done in all these years! Was this story hiding in plain sight!?
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sorenkierky
July 29, 2019
Just watched an interview of Vijay D (FC one that is) and although I totally disagree with his POV on many counts, artistically, I love that he’s more focused on acting and not becoming a star. And really liked that little anecdote about how they wanted to make sort of indie films together and yet got great mainstream success so ended up making mainstream stuff anyway.
And Baddie, yours is the prolly the first positive review on DC I’ve seen thus far. People are insanely critical of the pacing etc. – and I’ve read no such more-than-superficial takes on the film. Now I’m more interested to see how this has turned out, tbh.
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Anu Warrier
July 29, 2019
So glad to see that this is more than another ‘boy-meets-girl-decides-he-loves-her-and-gets-her-despite-being-a-manipulative-stalker’. Might watch it just for that. Also, a personal connection – Shruti Ramachandran is my husband’s niece. 🙂 Did a couple of Malyalam films as lead but didn’t really get anywhere, at least not to my knowledge. And it seems like she’s destined to get secondary character parts now?
P.s. Apparently Karan Johar has already snapped up the remake rights for Hindi.
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Faroo
July 30, 2019
The FC site is turning out to be more like the telecast of indian matches… One huge banner at the top of the screen, and equally big banner at the bottom of the screen.
https://ibb.co/8xPcbv2
Need to write a script to scrape the page to read BR’s review 😦
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Roopa
July 30, 2019
Spot on review! Rangan Sir, it is always a delight to read your reviews and watch your interviews. I always look forward to that. IMHO, Vijay and Rashmika have put in spectacular performances. I found the length of the movie to be a dealbreaker. The soul searching and healing bit i felt was way overdone. Some crisp editing could have helped. There was lot of honesty in the lead characters portrayal which made me sit through the entire movie without much complaints. Vijay deserves a big round of applause for choosing this movie over a commercial masala entertainer. It was a good watch!
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brangan
July 30, 2019
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rsylviana
July 31, 2019
This is such a spot on review. I loved the film and was thinking the same thing when I walked out of the theatre – this film is very similar to so many of our mainstream films and yet it’s not. Every character had an arc and I was impressed equally by VD and Rashmika’s performances . The songs too had been used and placed so well that none felt jarring to me. Naan Varuven especially has been used and picturised beautifully. The film mostly stuck to the script and the characters’ journey and even the Mandatory Macho Heroism moments were too far and too few to look out of place. So much thought has gone into the little things like Lilly’s clothes , Bobby’s dynamic with Lilly’s family first and then her and how all of it would change throughout the course of the film. Kind of proves the whole “If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves”. Looking forward to what VD comes up with next.
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Vishal Y
July 31, 2019
“Would the “new and improved” Bobby do something as brashly impulsive as kidnap a psychiatric patient, convinced that he can fix her?”
He spent 3 whole years trying to forget her in Nature. He couldn’t forget but at the same time the healing power of Nature made a big impact on him, and it was this conviction that paved the way for him to carry her away without any hesitation.
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Varsha
August 2, 2019
Oh man ! Jus loved loved loved the review and captured my thoughts exactly. Keep it going Br
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praneshp
August 2, 2019
Ha, I’ll cherish this review for a while at least. I caught this today, and noticed the same thing you mentioned about Lilly’s clothes in the second half.
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Faroo
September 2, 2019
Just caught up on this movie yesterday and re-read this review to see which bits I caught/missed and agreed/disagreed. Great review BR!!
One thing that stuck with me was Rashmika’s acting – while easy on the eyes, I thought she was awful in several of the emotional scenes and if you look closely, there are a lot more scenes shot from behind (her head) while facing Vijay — i was thankful for those shot selections.
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NycPKumar
September 2, 2019
Love your review on this great movie. Though the movie is lengthy, it helps to go through the journey of the lead characters. Love portions are enjoyable and gives the warmth.
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Anuja Chandramouli
September 15, 2019
Been meaning to watch this film for a while now and finally caught it on Amazon Prime. Postponed reading this review as well… Really glad I watched Dear Comrade. Loved the performances, sensitivity and the detailing as well. VD and Rashmika were damn good. It was
particularly heartening that the film acknowledged it was Aparna Devi’s fight and even a hotheaded, well – meaning comrade can’t win it for her and yet some of it bothered me…
As Aparna tells Bobby, her father was worried about the family honour and respect, whereas he wanted her to fight, nobody had bothered to ask her what she wanted. Even in the end, it was Bobby who forced things to reach a courtroom and she was pushed into speaking up. He even calls her a ‘loser’ and a ‘coward’ because she wanted nothing at all to do with her monster and simply run for her life. That really bothered and depressed me. It is always satisfying in a mass film to see lecherous pig fucks get their comeuppance or get beaten up to within an inch of their lives but with it comes the heartbreaking realization that things pan out very differently in real life. When a girl is sexually harassed, abused, molested, raped she is almost always alone even if there are well meaning individuals/comrades around her.
Too few if any ever get justice. Or a modicum of peace. It made me cry. Even more than the movie did.
PS: When a victim is not willing to speak out or fight back, that does not make her a loser or a coward, it just means that she is trying to survive and put the broken pieces back together as best as she can. All by herself. Because there is no Bobby readily available to hold her hand and help her find herself again.
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sachita
December 25, 2019
This was one of the best #metoo movies so far. Except for one scene where bobby gives off a speech/interview, it was very satisfying movie. I was so surprised by Rashmika’s performance.
I dont think they could have detailed the bird voice exploration any further. As it is I think that part where the movie slowed down.
As usual your review was so spot on.
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Ramit
April 7, 2020
This movie feels like a triumph of violence. For the major part of the movie, the girl keeps on advocating non-violence, yet she herself resorts to physical violence in the end.
Also, the last portions seem like an imposition of the guy’s will onto the girl. If she was choosing not to fight, that was her choice. The guy could at max have tried to persuade her gently but instead he kept forcing her to do the things that he thought were right. Her resorting to violence at the end seems like the script’s answer to curb her agency/principles.
In general also, the movie was meandering too much. It was not able to decide what it wanted to do. The focus kept on changing from one thing to another.
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Ganesh Murthy
April 18, 2020
FOR ONCE, a social-message type movie characterized the survivor beyond the problems they had to face. It was great that they built a life for Lily before and after her being assaulted, so the audience can she that she is an actual person beyond “that girl who survived assault”. Rashmika’s performance could have used a little more depth (she’s just the quiet but strong girl in the beginning, then just the frustrated girl in the middle, and just the hesitant girl at the end), but it was def better than expected.
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Aman Basha
April 25, 2020
Loved it to bits and pieces. Dare I say that Dear Comrade ranks as Vijay Deverakonda’s best for me. Arjun Reddy was revolutionary but nowhere as encouraging and uplifting as this. The first half has Bobby and Lily falling for each other, the shadow of conflict casting itself over the both of them until it ends in conflict. The second half traces the same path only the conflict this time is from Lily’s life and brings the lovers together. And my, my what a conflict it is. Lily finds herself caught between the stubborn, impulsive push of what Bobby thinks she should be and the weary, worried pull of what everyone around expect her to be. It seems so lived in, so grounded, so true and yet so romantic.
Devarakonda delivers excellently, but Rashmika was such a lovely surprise, so naturally beautiful. I especially loved the choice of Charuhasan as the communist grandfather, imagining those rebel communist characters Kamal essayed in Aakali Rajyam and many other movies as elderly figures. He’s talked about, almost a spectral presence looking on as Bobby falls for her, misses her, goes to meet her, and breaks away from her, his only dialogues are the most important, emphasizing the theme of the film.
The family members for once look related to the heroine, with similar features and more importantly, give the feeling of having lived with each other. The selector figure seemed literally drunk in his power. Pity that it flopped and I find it amusing, that the pace was compared to a TV serial. Seriously, can you find such fine craft, music and performances in a TV serial? (especially the South Indian variety).
PS: Loved how Lily seems repulsed even by Boby’s touch at the hospital, her dialogue and body language hinting at the ordeal she has undergone.
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brangan
May 8, 2020
Dear Comrade questions mainstream ideas of gender roles handed to us through commercial cinema. A film that starts out being about Bobby ends up being about Lilly, writes Sagar Tetali
https://www.filmcompanion.in/telugu-movies-bharat-kamma-dear-comrade-how-the-vijay-deverakonda-rashmika-mandanna-film-challenges-the-role-of-violence-in-the-making-of-a-hero-amazon-prime-video/
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abishekspeare
May 8, 2020
But it sets out to be one story and ends up being another one right? Lily’s story kicks in only towards the end. Till then we’re dealing with someone like Arjun Reddy’s brother(lets call him Bheema Reddy). And till it reaches the second half the film is unable to decide whether it wants to become a Vijay Devarakonda Love Story or Angry Young Student Political Movie
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Ramit
May 8, 2020
@abhishekspeare I second that. I too was put off by the movie’s vacillations. (apart from its pro violence slant.)
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Srinivas R
November 22, 2020
Watched this only today. This is the first movie of Rashmika that i have watched and i really loved her performance. One of the very rare movies that attempts to look at sexual harassment from a victim’s perspective. The kidnapping of patient from the hospital was the only sore point for me.
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