Film: 777 Charlie

Producer: Rakshit Shetty

Director: Kiran Raj

Starring: Rakshit Shetty, Sangeetha Sringeri, Raj B Shetty, Baby Sharvari, Gopalakrishna Deshapande, H G Somashekhara Rao, Bhargavi Narayan, Danish Sait, Bobby Simha

Stars: 4

The human-animal bonding is not in Indian cinema. Right from Rajesh Khanna starrer ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’, there are many films based on this subject. ‘777 Charlie’ is an addition in this genre and stands apart for its strong emotion content.

‘777 Charlie’ is the story of Dharma (Rakshit Shetty) who is a loner and is termed as a ‘Hitler’ by his neigbours for his behavior. A stray dog enters his life and his home. At first, the two don’t gel and slowly circumstances make them come together. At one point of time, the stray dog becomes an integral part of his life. From then on, Dharma and Charlie go on an expedition which takes us on a journey that reaffirms the belief in unconditional love.

Just when action films like ‘Pushpa’, ‘KGF 2’ and ‘Vikram’ are the talk of the town, Kiran Raj has made his debut with a heartwarming yet simple story. ‘777 Charlie’ is a feel good film with lots of entertaining elements in it. The first half of the film is entertaining and is filled with fun and laughter. The second half of the film gets too emotional and makes one cry. The climax of the film is the height and one cannot come out of the film being teary eyed. Kudos to director Kiran Raj for making an exceptional film in his first attempt itself. However, the film gets slow in the second half of the film. Some of the scenes could be easily trimmed. But the audience completely forgets all the flaws during the climax and gets too deep in to the world of Dharma and Charlie.

Rakshit Shetty is at his best in portraying the character of Dharma. The role has different shades and the actor strikes a great balance in portraying the role. His equation with the Charlies (More than one dog has played the role) is great and is the soul of the film. Though the film revolves around Dharma and Charlie, Raj B Shetty as a veterinarian and Sangeetha Sringeri as an Animal Welfare Centre officer come at the right time to ease the bond between Dharma and Charlie. Baby Sharvari, Gopalakrishna Deshapande, H G Somashekhara Rao, Bhargavi Narayan, Danish Sait and others provide adequate support. Bobby Simha also plays the role of a loner with a dog is impressive.

The highlight of the film is however the technical support from various teams. Apart from a good screenplay by Kiran Raj and his team cinematographer Aravind Kashyap and music director Nobin Paul have also excelled in their work.

‘777 Charlie’ is not only a must watch for animal lovers, but also to the entire family. Watch it in theaters near you.