'B. Tech' movie review highlights: Too much cramped into the first half of the course

Mridul Nair's debut directorial B.Tech is backed by ingredients that have more often than not spelled success in the box office recently - a youth-centric plot about engineering students, Asif Ali-Aparna Balamurali combo and a Bengaluru setting to top it off.

The star cast of the movie is filled to the brim with Asif Ali, Aparna Balamurali, Sreenath Bhasi, Niranjana Anoop, Deepak Parambol, Arjun Ashokan, Saiju Kurup and Anoop Menon to name a few. It's the natural chemistry between these actors that spins most of the magic in the first half with each actor being the best for their respective characters.

The film starts off by introducing the engineering students of a Bengaluru college. Some of them including Anand (Asif), Nizar (Deepak Parumbol) and Jojo (Sreenath Bhasi) have been studying the course for the past eight years. Their skirmishes with the rival gangs, camaraderie, personal problems are all shown in the first half.

Harishree Ashokan's son Arjun gets a meaty role as a level-headed first year student who joins the indolent gang of seniors. The plot of the first half is haphazard as there is too much happening and that too without much focus. One minute the story shows the characters fighting with their rivals, the next they get away to North Kerala to get a taste of simple life without the opulence of Bengaluru life, soon they are back in Bengaluru and then all of a sudden the plot turns to the prevalent religious bias among the cops in the city.

Rahul Raj's music infuses a fresh breeze to the proceedings while Mahesh Narayan's and Abhilash Balachandran's edits sometimes come across as sloppy for the film, which is 2 hour and 26 minutes long.

The interval tosses up a pivotal problem that has the characters at a different crossroad, which will test their future.