Genre : Romance/Drama

Duration : 2h 50m

Chaitanya aka Bobby (Vijay Deverakonda) is impulsive and fights for what he believes is right; Aparna aka Lilly (Rashmika) abhors violence and prefers to be passive when confronted to take a strong stand. He loves her, she wants him; he doesn’t think what he’s doing is wrong, she doesn’t want to lose him even if he’s fighting for the right reasons; he wants to fight for her, she wants him to be with her without any emotional baggage.

Dear Comrade is beautifully written and the love story between the two characters is sheer magic, but then it straddles between two worlds that are loosely held together. The narrative is uneven when it tries to dig into what could possibly break a person’s determination. For Bobby it’s the separation from Lilly, but for Lilly, it’s the world around her that suffocates her. She might be a timid woman, but that has more to do with the people around her who strangle her will to fight back.

Right from the moment we are introduced to these two characters, and how their lives change after life pulls them apart, the film has a lot more to say than what we see on screen. By the time you absorb everything that Bharat Kamma has to say, you also realise that the ship has sailed in a different direction and so, we too are forced to confront the stark reality of current times. The narrative changes from a love story between two characters who are happy in their own world, to them questioning what sort of life they want to live and fighting for what they love. The synergy between the themes that the film tries to address isn’t always seamless, although both of them are good in their own ways. The only thing which holds them together is the yearning for a comrade.

The conflict in the story is a two-pronged fork – Lilly is terrified of Bobby’s anger and impulsive nature; Bobby is upset with Lilly for not putting up a fight when her honour and dreams are at stake due to sexual harassment. This is where Dear Comrade differentiates itself from its ilk and the love story feels all the more real. This is what makes it an important film in the post #MeToo era and how people react to it. Everyone tells Lilly to keep her mouth shut, but Bobby nudges her to fight back, even though he’s quite capable of taking the law in his own hands. It’s as much Bobby’s perspective on life as it is Lilly’s.

The movie speaks volumes about what exactly a lover should be. The term ‘Comrade’ has been personified in this film as the lead character Bobby stands by Lilly against the world just to give her back the justice, respect and confidence which she has lost. Obviously it is a love story, so the end unites the lovers.