Any film made by youngsters arouses curiosity and the audience expects it to be refreshingly different. N.M. Suresh, who made two films with young artistes and technicians, is back with his third movie.

Hugely anticipated "7 O' Clock" has, however, proved to be a disappointment.

True the final 20-odd minutes of the film are quite engaging. But can you wait some 100-odd dreary minutes for the delectable ending?

The film introduces some fresh faces as leading stars, with veterans playing character roles. But the story is far from fresh. Kannada audiences have been told similar stories in Sunil Kumar Desai's "Beladingala Baale" and Rajendra Babu's "Yaare Neenu Cheluve".

Director Santhosh Rai Pathaje could have worked out something different in his script, but it's made worse by song sequences repeated in the two earlier films.

"7 O' Clock" deals with a situation where two young people connected only through a telephone fall in love. Rahul, a painter, gets a telephone call from Neetu, a medical student, at 7 every morning. This is a prank played by Neetu and her younger sister. The joke leads to serious situations.

Mithun Tejaswi has acted as a hero for the first time in a Kannada film, though he had acted in some important roles in a Tamil film. Pooja Kanwal looks good in the song sequences but awful in emotional scenes. Nitya proves her mettle in the sister's role.

Madhukar's music offers two good song compositions and Chandrashekhar scores in photography.

Let's hope Pathaje avoids a trite theme in his next film.