Toby or not To be : My quick take Raj Shetty’s “Toby”
The RRR’s of kannada film industry are in news once again. While the dust was settling on Rishab Shetty’s Kantara, Rakshit Shetty walked away with a national award for his 777 Charlie now it's the turn of Raj Shetty who has come up with a hard-hitting action drama “Toby”. Not to forget the GGVV. Looks like Shettyverse is blossoming and flourishing.
It is nice to see the shettys have decided to entertain us by engaging stories of our own backyard. Their plots are very rooted which make it look very authentic. Though this masterpiece might have vibes of Kantara due to it's banal set up, but it will be foolhardy to compare both movies, as both these movie plots are on opposite side of spectrum. Kantara was more towards divinity aspect while Toby veers towards the devilish aspect of human persona.
Except for the length of movie, everything else is simply superlative. Be it engaging screenplay, be it beautiful characters in the plot, be it breathtaking locales of bewitching beauty of coastal Kumta and malnaad, be it the mellifluous melody of Midhun Mukundam, and above all the award-winning performances by the cast led by Raj Shetty and Chaitra Achar. One should also commend the brilliant direction of Basil.
In month when movies like Jailer and Gadar2 are released, hats off to the makers of Toby who dared to release it and announce it to the world the difference between a class and mass movie. Like kantara this Toby is one more masterpiece, which in my view is not to be missed.
Plot is about a mute orphan who has fight for his survival, thus making him an eclectic character. Raj Shetty plays this layered titular character of Toby, even though he plays a mute but his character speaks a lot. This is a text book example of how to use body language to convey yr message. Chaitra Achaar who plays the daughter of Toby is someone to watch for, this Alia Bhat look alike is treat to watch in movie. Beautiful Samyukta hornad proves that she is chip of Belwadi block and Gopal Deshpande in a small role leaves an indelible impression.
I only wish the makers had dwelled little on the Toby’s childhood and the action sequences could have been more crisper. Overall it's well well-written, well directed and superbly performed plot. Dont miss this rustic saga.
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