Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Amigos Creations Pvt Ltd
Cast: Abhijit, Sudhakar, Kaushik, Shagun, Zara, Rashmi, Shriya, Amala and others
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Cinematographer: Vijay C Kumar
Editor: Marthand K Venkatesh
Story, screenplay, direction: Sekhar Kammula
Producer: Sekhar Kammula
Release date: 14/09/2012
Sekhar Kammula is back and yet again he has come with a refreshing entertainer with a bunch of newbies and branded starlets. Whether it is upto the expectations let us see
Story
Set in a residential colony, the story is about Srinu (Abhijit) who comes with his two sisters to stay with his uncle for an year following instructions from his mother (Amala). In no time, he becomes friends with Nagaraj (Sudhakar) and a gadget wizard (Kaushik). Hailing from a middle class locality, these boys have tiffs with some rich boys from a nearby posh locality. Meanwhile, Srinu starts getting interested in Paddu (Shagun) while Nagaraj falls for Lakshmi (Zara) and the whizkid falls for an aspiring Miss India Paru (Shriya). Each one has their own challenges in their lives but all of them are together through thick and thin. How they face various experiences and how that shapes their lives forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Abhijit was alright. Performance wise he didn’t have that energy but he had that innocent face with a special charm that can connect him to the young crowds.
Kaushik is the lucky guy. Given the fact that he gets to romance Shriya right in his debut he could not ask for more. He would remind many of ‘Happy Days’ Tyson in his dialogue delivery and characterization.
Sudhakar was the showstealer. He had ease in front of the camera and his typical Telangana dialogue delivery strikes. He was good in the emotional scenes as well.
Shagun looks cute and has a beautiful smile, she has potential to grow as a heroine. Zara is sexy but she was stiff in few sequences, she must get rid of that.
Amala Akkineni had a subdued role but had an important part to play. She was gracious and carried her role with elegance. Anjala Zhaveri was brief but she made her presence felt.
Shriya…words may not be sufficient to describe. Her beauty…her screen presence, her ability to connect with fresh faces is very impressive. It is indeed a mystery as to how she is turning younger by the day. She fitted into her role very well, grabbed attention whenever she was onscreen and scored the brownie points.
Rashmi was neat, Surekha Vani was standard, CVL Narasimha Rao was upto the mark, the actors doing the rich kids role were apt.
Highlights
- Second half
- Songs
- Feel of the movie
- Technical values
- Mother scene of the child artist in climax
Drawbacks
- Length
- First half
- Few scenes missed the emotional quotient
Analysis
Sekhar Kammula is one of those rare filmmakers who comes in with set expectations from the audience. He is more like a Boyapati Srinu for the urban and multiplex audience because he is good at weaving emotional scenes and bringing intensity in his characters. And this time he has taken one step higher than ‘Happy Days’ and made it more of a family entertainer instead of a sugary youth entertainer. However, he didn’t miss his signature formula. ‘Happy Days’ had college, here it is a colony. That had seniors vs juniors, this had Gold Phase guys vs B Phase guys. That had Kamalini and this had Anjala.
Though the youth format is still intact, Kammula mixed his recipe with a strong sentiment of family and this is sure to squeeze the hearts. He also ensured that there is a brand value to the film in the form of Amala, Shriya and Anjala. Among them, Shriya’s mileage factor worked strongly.
However, there are few hiccups. Kammula could not generate that juice during the romantic sequences, especially the track between Abhijit and Shagun.
Secondly, till the interval bang there are many clichéd sequences that take you back to ‘Happy Days’ and the same atmosphere.
Overall, the film will still score because it is clean, it is refreshing and it has the flavor which pulls both the youth and family audiences. If only the length was trimmed and the ending was not that abrupt, the film would have been much effective.
Bottomline: Real life may not be beautiful but this one is..
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
