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Review: Nothing new about Dr Love

September 12, 2011 11:00 IST

A still from Dr LoveParesh C Palicha feels Dr Love is yet another campus film. Post YOUR reviews here!

It is often difficult for an actor to break out of the image he has acquired.

Take the case of Kunchacko Boban, the chocolate hero of yesteryear, who has been trying to project another image of himself in his second innings by doing mature roles and changing the way he looks with the help of a stubble and even stylish spectacles!

None of this has helped, since he's back in college in every second film, though in different capacities. The same thing happens in his new venture Dr Love, written and directed by newcomer K Biju.

Boban plays Vinaychandran, a failed writer of fluffy 'how to win your love' kind of books, who takes a job as a waiter in a college canteen to help out an ageing PT teacher (Innocent) whose romantic relationship with a fellow teacher (Bindu Panicker) has gone into a coma. Vinaychnadran's reputation spreads among the students and he comes to be known as Dr Love, the romance

consultant.

There's Bhavana as the head strong girl, who is nicknamed 'campus devil' and the object of affection of a soft-spoken Roy (Hemanth). Our doctor is publicly challenged to make the devil fall for Roy or accept her as his girl by the end of the year.

Now starts the game of one-upmanship between the two and the whole college seems to be under its spell (the actual purpose of attending college and acquiring an education has flown out of the window). This may happen in most films of this kind and can even be entertaining, but K Biju doesn't quite pull it off.

Kunchacko Boban tries very hard to show that he is doing something novel here by not being all goody-goody, but it's still the same old character. Bhavana as the brat does score a few points here and there. Ananya as the second lead has to look lost, but carries it to an extreme where it looks like she's wondering where her character is headed.

Kunchacko Boban might have hoped debutant director K Biju would not make Dr Love a typical campus caper but it ends up being just that.

Rediff Rating:

Paresh C Palicha in Kochi