Cast: Vijay Devarakonda, Ritu Varma, Priyadarshi, Anish Kuruvilla.
Director: Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam
The title of the film itself reveals the synopsis, and on top of it, the makers have released a trailer with the main story in it. Yet it made me walk out of the movie hall with a wide grin, and that’s because of the team’s work.
Pelli Choopulu starts off with the stories of two individuals whose approach to life is as different as chalk and cheese. It’s a romantic comedy in which the actors are able performers. All the men in the film, from the lead, Vijay Devarakonda, to the little fellow whose small act of closing a door opens doors of opportunity to Ritu and Vijay later on, are perfectly cast.
Ritu and Vijay have previously starred in Yevade Subramanyam. They weren’t seen as a couple as Nani headlined the film along with Malavika Nair. In Pelli Choopulu, the young actors come together and steal the show from the first scene. Ritu is a level-headed woman with her eyes on making money, and Vijay has his head in the sky always. He wants to marry a woman because the woman’s father offers to pay him dowry. That’s enough for the hero as he is convinced that he’s a good-for-nothing teenager in a grown up man’s body.
We know that the actors are going to leave their differences behind and cuddle each other in the end. It’s no surprise when the story takes a turn in the middle or when it goes for a U-Turn just before the final embrace. Pleasant moments are present throughout the movie, and as the saying goes – the journey is more important than the destination – the characters’ journey is lovely, and the end of the road for the boy and the girl is also not that bad, though it could have stayed away from being “too filmy."
Haven’t many filmmakers portrayed past relationships like they were some sort of scars? Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam, the director of Pelli Choopulu, chooses to garnish the characters’ past relationships with humor and matters of fact. That’s a big win in terms of character development as something such as this hasn’t happened before. There were no tears. There were only answers for Chitra (Ritu) and Prashanth (Vijay).
Since the movie is shot in sync sound, all the actors know what they are saying. They know their lines and they know their emotions. A cute ‘fight’ between Vijay and his on-screen grandmother to grab a glass of whiskey is enough to bring the roof down. Add to this: a bumbling Priyadarshi. Did he write the dialogues himself? Every line he utters is gold. He’s so good that I kept my laughs ready whenever he appeared. When he’s asked what he does for a living by Anish Kuruvilla in the climax, his reply is an epic one which can be used by people who are annoyed by their relatives’ relentless taunts.
Vivek Sagar’s music is pure bliss. The songs and background score work pretty well. The music doesn’t interrupt the flow; it rather creates a space for the narrative to move forward. The film uses a lot of natural light. It’s great in parts, but if the room for lighting had been larger, it would have been better.
Pelli Choopulu is going to help the team acquire bright spots in the industry soon. The director, composer, Priyadarshi, and leads should, in particular, be given a rapturous applause.
Rating: 4/5
Comments
0 comment