Movie: Nirmala Convent
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Matrix Team Works
Cast: Roshan, Shriya Sharma, Aditya Menon, LB Sriram and others.
Music: Roshan Saluri
Cinematographer: S V Vishwaweshwar
Producers: Nimmagadda Prasad, Akkineni Nagarjuna
Script, Screenplay and Direction: G Naga Koteshwara Rao
Release Date: 16 September 2016
Akkineni Nagarjuna who is in great form with series of hits in the recent past produced 'Nirmala Convent' introducing another hero Srikanth's son in the lead role.
As Nagarjuna produced or presented small movies like “Uyyala Jampala” have become good hits earlier, this film has evoked interest too. Moreover, A R Rehman’s son Ameen crooned a song that became quite popular.
So ‘Nirmala Convent’ has caught everyone’s attention. So how has the film fared?
Story:
Samuel (Roshan), son of poor farmer, studies plus one in Nirmala Convent school in a village near S. Kota in Andhra Pradesh. He is a studious guy and highly intelligent. His classmate Shanti (Shriya Sharma), daughter of rich landlord of the same village, wants to divert his attention from books and make him look at girls.
When Shanti teases Samuel one time, he immediately loses focus and starts loving her and invents the language of love too. Upon knowing Shanti and Samuel’s love, her father beats up Samuel. When her father insults him that nobody knows him beyond this village, he wants to become popular and lands in Hyderabad.
He meets actor Nagarjuna and asks him to hold Meelo Evaro Koteeshwarudu challenge in his village. After some drama, Nagarjuna accepts. How he becomes winner in this program and turns popular overnight and how he wins his love remains the rest of the story.
Artistes’ Performances:
Actor Srikanth’s son Roshan debuted in ‘Rudhramadevi’ as child artiste. He has played as teenage hero. He looks promising as he has ease. Shriya Sharma as teenage girl is perfect. Among other actors, L B Sriram stands out.
Technical Excellence:
The film is shot in various places including Nainital and the movie looks rich with lush greens. Cinematography and production values are top class. The writing and direction is mediocre. Music by Roshan Saluri is average though two songs standout including the popular number ‘Kotha Kotha Basha’.
Highlights:
Last few minutes
Roshan
Drawback:
Outdated script
Poor direction
Amateurish scenes
Self promotion of MEK
Analysis:
The title and the trailers have promised a teenage romantic drama with nice songs. The presence of Nagarjuna also piqued the interest. But we have got less of teenage love story in the movie, and more of Nagarjuna’s self promotion of his TV program “Meelo Evaru Koteeshwarudu”.
The first half of the movie is centered on Roshan and Shriya’s teenage drama which is straight out of 70’s or 80’s. Frankly, 80’s teenage dramas had better conflict and handling than this amateurish movie.
New director Koteshwara Rao has come up with a story that is as old as Himalayas and his narration is quite dated too. Roshan is 16 years old he falls in love with his class mate in just one scene.
At the start of the movie, he is introduced as a guy who is totally bookish but in the next scene he talks about love language, and kiss scenes. He even sings a number describing the meaning of kisses planted on various parts of body. She reciprocates her love when she sees he helps a pregnant lady landed in a road accident. Aah, such old and archaic scenes.
A poor Christian teenager falling in love with a rich Hindu landlord and her parents opposing, he is getting beaten up by rowdies….has this template of story from era of dinosaurs? To compensate with this silly and old teenage love story, the writer and director put the angle of “Meelo Evaro Koteeshwarudu” in the second half reminding us of “Slumdog Millionaire”.
The second half is fairly engaging compared to the first half but still it is quite amateurish in its handling. From the beginning it is shown that Roshan is quite intelligent that there is nothing that can’t be answered by him. So when he himself asks Nagarjuna to hold a Meelo Evaru Koteeshwarudu’s competition in the village, we know that he will definitely win with the game since he has high I.Q. So, where is suspense in the story?
As there is not enough material to hold the audiences’ interest in this episode, the director has focused on scenes where everyone goes gaga over Nagarjuna’s handsome looks, his son’s Akhil handsomeness. Also the comedy by Taguboth Ramesh and Jogi Brothers is too irritating.
The major issue in this teenage love story is the predictability. Right from the beginning we know what happens next that he falls in love with her, her parents oppose, etc. We also can easily guess he would win the competition in Nagarjuna’s program. There are no nail-baiting moments, which are essential for a thread like this, in the Nagarjuna’s episode either.
All in all, except couple of scenes, the cute pair of Roshan and Shriya Sharma, the movie doesn’t interest us. Totally old style of movie.
Bottom-line: Meelo Evaru Koteeshwarudu Season 4
