18 Pages Review: Charming Love Story

18 Pages Review: This Sukumar story directed by Palnati Surya Pratap casts Nikhil and Anupama in a love story that is charming and stresses on human relations over gadgets without being preachy

Sidhu is a prototype of a typical modern day being whose day starts and ends with technology. He needs Alexa to wake him up, apps to take care of his daily needs and is constantly on phone. If he is not working in office, he is chatting with his girlfriend until he finds her cheating on him and is heartbroken. And, like a typical love-story hero, breaks into a sad song – which too is full of modern-day analogies. All this happens in the first 15 minutes of the film before you can connect with the intensity of his love. By the end of the breakup saga, Siddu finds himself with a book in his hand – a dairy, which has only 18 pages written – but these pages begin to impact him, change his life and his thinking – and, also the film that takes a turn for better.

The rest of the story is about how he falls in love with the girl, who has written the dairy – Nandini. He has not met her but gets drawn into her world. He cries with her, rejoices at her happy moments, and is obsessed with her. He feels helpless when the journal abruptly ends, and also dejected. To feel close to her he begins to complete all the unfinished tasks that she had set for herself.

However, when he discovers there’s more to her story he begins to dig deeper; that moment when the film threatens to change course and go the action flick way. Eventually how Nandini starts to fall in love with the hero – without even talking to him over phone takes the film to its end. Sarayu Roy as Siddu’s best friend Bhagi, in addition to being the catalyst to the love story adds the element of comedy. Dialogues and music are a huge advantage to the film.

That the film story is written by Sukumar, and produced by Bunny Vas gives a charm to this love story, which is endearing at many levels. Especially the part when Nandini sticks to her no phone no technology policy and shows to the people around her that it is possible and can open great possibilities. A practice that Siddu adopts. Though dramatized to the point of being a little impractical for cinematic purposes, and there are a bunch of action sequences and thrills – the film more or less stays true to the romance genre.

18 Pages, despite the few misses, and excesses is watchable, fun and engaging. A good addition to Nikhil’s hit list post the super successful ‘Karthikeya2’.

The film with Nikhil and Anupama Parameshwaran in the lead is directed by Palnati Surya Pratap