Love, Sitara REVIEW: Sobhita Dhulipala shines in this dysfunctional family drama that’s unpretentious

Film:
Love, Sitara

Director: Vandana Kataria

Writer: Vandana Kataria, Sonia Bahl

Cast: Sobhita Dhulipala, Rajeev Siddhartha, Sonali Kulkarni, B Jayashree, Virginia Rodrigues, Sanjay Bhutiani, Tamara D’Souza, Rijul Ray

Runtime: 106 minutes (1 hour 46 minutes)

Platform: ZEE5

Love, Sitara Review

Sobhita Dhulipala-led Love, Sitara is a family-centric drama that highlights the imperfections of life and how despite them you can always count on your family to have your back. The narrative follows the life of 29-year-old Sitara (Sobhita) – an award-winning interior designer who surprises her family and friends when she decides to tie the knot with her on-again, off-again beau Arjun (Rajeev Siddhartha). Initially determined to conquer the world with her work and never set down with marriage and kids, Sitara’s life takes a complete turn when she gets pregnant. While Arjun is overjoyed when she proposes marriage, no wedding is complete without drama and that’s exactly what happens in this Vandana Kataria directorial.

As the wedding preps begin, so does the unravelling of secrets that threaten both only to destroy Sitara’s upcoming marriage but also wreak havoc in her family. What are these secrets that threaten to destroy everything Sitara holds dear? To know the answers, you will need to watch Love, Sitara and here’s our review of the family drama.

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What Works

The music, the film’s cinematography (the beautiful visuals will compel you to book a vacation to Kerala to see more than just the backwaters of God’s own country), and most importantly, Sobhita Dhulipala.

What Doesn’t Work

The climax – it falls flat and the film’s simple narrative.

Technical Analysis

Story & Screenplay

Written by director Vandana Kataria and Sonia Bahl, Love, Sitara is a drama about a dysfunctional family that we are most likely to see in urban cities. While the story and characters are unpretentious, the narrative is very two-dimensional. In fact, after a certain period, you will be able to predict what’s going to happen and will have a gist of the dialogue too.

Direction

While the story lacks a certain depth, Vandana Kataria has a commendable job when it comes to direction. We only wish that some shoots have a little more personality to make them more personal and relatable.

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Cinematography

Szymon Lenkowski deserves a round of applause for the cinematography of Love, Sitara. He has managed to capture Kerala’s scenic beauty – that’s more than just the backwaters, beautifully, making a trip to God’s own country a part of our bucket list plans.

Music

The music provided by music directors Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur and the background score by Shri Sriram help make the narrative a bit more immersive. The traditional BGM especially is a chef’s kiss.

Love, Sitara Star Performances

The star of Love, Sitara without a doubt is ‘Sitara’ Sobhita Dhulipala. The actress beautifully portrays the different shades of the characters – be it her as a heartbroken daughter and lover who is seeing everything she holds dear slip away through her fingers, the ambitious designer ready to conquer the world or a new mother willing to risk it all for the sake of her unborn child. Sobhita beautifully expresses the joys and heartaches of Sitata making her a reliable character.

Rajeev Siddhartha as Chef Arjun is okay – not outstanding but also not completely disappointing. Sitara’s family consist of four members her aunt Hema (Sonali Kulkarni), her grandmother Amumma (B Jayashree), and her parents Latha (Virginia Rodrigues) and Govind (Sanjay Bhutiani). The four manage to emote real emotions though they seem forced and unnatural at times. Sonali however standouts especially during her heartbreak scenes.

Tamara D’Souza and Rijul Ray as Anjali and Majeed – Sitara’s friends, have limited screen time but manage to catch the attention.

Conclusion

Watch the trailer of Love, Sitara here:

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