Sundari Gardens

Without much clamour, the film subtly persuades people to embrace progressiveness and normalise facets like a divorcee falling in love all over again and still choosing to enjoy life in solitude. In one of the initial scenes, Sundari has to assuage the fears of a student who has a pregnancy scare. She takes care of it in a very calm and composed way. It is refreshing to see the lack of melodramatisation in these sequences.

Zone after every conflict, it almost feels like belittling the struggle of the heroine. The cinematography by Swaroop Philip primarily focuses on the lushness of frames. The songs on an album level feel nice. The movie is, in a way, drenched in music, and that wasn’t really helping. It almost felt like one song was playing in the backdrop for the entire first half. Sundari Gardens, as a one-liner, had an interesting premise, but the lack of imagination in writing makes it a dull and cheesy drama that uses its feel-good texture as an excuse. The central character in this film deserves a better set of hurdles. The flawless performance of Aparna Balamurali can’t cover up the excessive