Movie: Oohalu Gusagusalade
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Vaarahi Chalana Chitram
Cast: Naga Sourya, Rasi Khanna, Srinivas Avasarala, Posani krishna murali, Rao Ramesh and Others
Music: Kalyani Koduri
Cinematographer: Venkat C. Dilip
Producer: Rajni korrapati
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, Directon: Srini Avasarala
Release Date: Jun 20, 2014
Srinivas Avasarala is best remembered for the comic role he played in Ashta Chemma. This time around, he debuts as a director with a refreshing film which is like soothing sea breeze. And for all those who had doubts about his directorial aspirations, he has answered by making a film that will surely take you to the theatres.
Story:
Venkateswara Rao (Naga Sourya) alias Venky aspires to become a television news reader. But as his luck would have it, he ends up modeling for tele-marketing ads. Despite requesting his boss Uday (Srinivas Avasarala) many times, his dream of becoming a news reader does not materialize. Meanwhile, Uday decides to impress Sirisha (Rasi Khanna) who he intends to marry. For this, he seeks the help of Venky. In the process, Venky realizes that Sirisha is none other than Prabhavathi who was his ex girlfriend. From here on the story follows how Venky is stuck between Sirisha and Uday and how he sorts out the confusion and wins over Sirisha.
Artistes’ Performance:
Naga Sourya looks perfect as the boy next door and Rasi Khanna impresses in her role. But the icing on the cake is director Srinivas Avasarala who plays the part of Uday. He succeeds as a director by picking the right cast for the lead pair and puts in an impressive performance playing the desperate bachelor who wants to impress his girl at any cost. In fact, he stands out with his comic capers in the second half.
Coming to the rest of the cast, Harish and Posani Krishna Murali put in average performances and fail to evoke laughs. Others put in okay performances.
Technical Expertise:
Kalyani Koduri’s music is catchy. Though some tunes remind us of his earlier work, he gets good marks for music and background score. Cinematography is good. Coming to editing, it would have been better if some lengthy scenes were trimmed tight. Dialogues are by Srinivas Avasarala and he does a good job. Steering clear of inane punch lines, he has come up with dialogues in simple, clear Telugu infused with intelligent humour. Though he falters at times as a director, he does a good job considering that it is his first film as a director. It’s not very easy to translate such stories on to the big screen. But Srinivas manages a first class for successfully telling his story.
Highlights:
- Srinivas Avasarala’s overall performance
- Music
- Entertainment quotient
Drawbacks:
- Snail-paced narration
- Boring Harish’s comedy track
Analysis:
The film is filled with sparkling instances of Srinivas Avasarala’s refined sense of humour. In one particular scene, when the hero and heroine are talking, a poster of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall is shown in the background. Quick-witted Avasarala says that the film has been dubbed as ‘Anni Hallonne’ for release in Telugu. The film is sprinkled with many such witty dialogues. Looks like Srinivas is a fan of Woody Allen as you can find shades of his style of story-telling throughout the film.
But let us warn you that the kind of humour in Oohalu Gusagusalade and slow narration may not be everyone’s idea of a romantic film. However, those who like slow-paced romantic entertainers and intelligent comedy are bound to enjoy the film. Also, the film’s length should have been cut short and the director should have taken care to give equal prominence to supporting cast.
But Avasarala’s performance and impressive lead pair more than make up for these shortcomings. The director also manages to pull off the love track between the lead pair successfully. He proves that he can deftly handle other emotions apart from comedy. Of course, he does fail to fill in some gaps especially towards the climax. Had he taken care of them, he would have been a complete success in his very first attempt.
In all, Oohalu Gusagusalade will attract class audiences who prefer subtle romantic comedies.
Bottomline: Simple, yet intelligent romantic comedy.
