Movie: Happy Wedding
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Pocket Cinema
Cast: Sumanth Ashwin, Niharika Konidela, Naresh, Annapurna, Pavitra Lokesh, Tulasi, Murali Sharma, Indraja and others
Music: Shaktikanth Karthik
Background score: Thaman S S
Cinematography: P Balreddy
Editor: Thammi Raju
Producer: M Sumanth Raju
Story, screenplay and Directed by: Lakshman Karya
Release date: July 28, 2018
Niharika Konidela has been a very popular face on TV thanks to her talk show. So, her filmy career is being keenly observed.
Though her first movie bombed, she has successfully made people look forward to her second film, “Happy Wedding”. The film has hit the screens today.
Let’s find out its merits and demerits.
Story:
Hyderabad girl Akshara (Niharika), who broke up with her boyfriend (Raja) and moved on in life, meets a guy Anand (Sumanth Ashwin), who lives in Vijayawada. Soon their liking turns into love and it eventually leads to engagement.
After the engagement, she feels Anand is not as caring as he used to be when they were dating. So, she buys some time to decide whether he is the guy she really wants to be with for life.
Given the movie’s title, anyone can expect what could be the ending, but this sums up the wafer-thin plot.
Artistes’ Performances:
Sumanth Ashwin as the youngster from Vijayawada is neat, though there is nothing much for him to prove as far as performance is concerned.
Niharika has screen presence, but she still has a long way to get noticed for acting skills. She has to work on some of her emotions, apart from relying only on her looks.
The film has huge ensemble cast. Murali Sharma and Tulasi as Niharika’s parents, Naresh and Pavitra as parents of Sumanth Ashwin add some value to the proceedings.
Raja as Niharika’s former boyfriend is okay.
Technical Excellence:
Music by Shaktikanth is out right ordinary. The film has a couple of songs, but they don’t get registered at all. The film’s cinematography is pleasant. Production design is neat. The pace of the film is damn slow.
Highlights:
Initial moments
Some jokes
Drawback:
Second half
Unconvincing conflict
Lack of depth
Analysis:
Films made on post-engagement blues are not entirely new to Telugu audiences. ‘Happy Wedding’ falls in the same formula. We have seen male protagonists doubting whether they have chosen the right person or not after getting engaged in some movies. In “Happy Wedding”, the female protagonist gets doubts.
The film begins with Sumanth Ashwin breaking news that the bride is not going to come to wedding and reveals the flashback. Story is cut to how Niharika and Sumanth began their love story six months ago.
The story begins with Niharika drinking vodka and Sumanth taking Mirinda in a pub. She is modern, he is broadminded. She is a girl with confusions and insecurities, he is a cool guy and patient.
After establishing these characterizations in some scenes, the movie slows down and runs in bland way though it occasionally cracks a joke or two.
These kind of movies run on expected lines as the story is all about indecisiveness of the girl, there is no chance of seeing any major twist.
When a story runs on a straight line, the narration should be engaging. However, the new director has not weaved any magical moments, nor has he brought interesting scenes.
A father-son having light moments, family having gala time, heroine’s friend talking in Telangana accent, some family song and dance moments -- the film is filled with these regular scenes and they test the patience after a point.
The reason why the girl doubts whether he is the right guy for her has no strong basis either. Just because he didn’t pick her up when she came to meet him, she compares this moment and their ‘dating’ time and starts believing that men take women for granted as soon as the girls say yes to them. Because she had similar experience with her earlier boyfriend. But this is told in lethargic manner.
It should have been narrated in more convincing way to make audiences connect with the girl’s predicament.
Once the silly and simple conflict is established at the interval bang, the film slides down post interval. No novelty, no surprises, just routine scenes. The dialogues are also unnatural though some good comic lines come from Annapurnnamma.
Romantic movies would work when the music is mellifluous and catchy, but here songs are huge drawback. The slow pace is another drawback.
All in all, “Happy Wedding” is a simple love story of a confused girl that is told with some bright visuals, some nice jokes but turns out to be dreary and nagging.
Bottom-line: Not Happy
