Nuvva Nena:
Chirpy Juhi Chawla was called upon
to choose decades ago between Govinda and Anil Kapoor. The mad comedy had two
great stars and David Dhavan in his unpretentious element. Fast forward to the
present and you have the Tollywood take. With Allari Naresh on board, half the
task is done and the Director Naryayana has only to ensure he does not goof it
up from here. He does nearly that.
Blame it on the system, on the approach, on the mind set or what have you but
the breezy comedy is converted into a musical with dream sequences aplenty. You
have a script again (Narayana) that is so convinced that the audience wants to
see the song and dance sequence that you begin to head to popcorn vendor more
often than you are prepared to normally.
The film starts on predictable lines and not a moment is outside the clichéd
box. You have a small time big thief Avinash (Allari Naresh) assisted by Bava
Chanti (Ali). There is the chase and the run to tickle you. There is the police
who catch up with him and then there is the mandatory police station scene.
Soon a heist is planned with the local police – with Avinash and Chanti to
execute. They now have the booty, a cheating police officer looted lost and off
to Hyderabad and straight to a five star hotel.
Before you can even say what’s next, Avinash notices a gorgeous Nandini (Shreya
Saran) and you have the mandatory song and dance sequence. Once is fair enough,
but the regularity with which he gets into the song and dance mode leaves you
with the distinct feeling that the film maker had left proceedings to the
choreographer. He meets up with Nandini who is a psychiatrist with the pretext
that Chanti needs medical attention. Stalling their advances is the local nurse
Pushpa (Kovai Sarla) who has gained as much weight as experience.
Walking in now is Sarwanand (Anand) a timid guy who suffers from a serious
disorder of sorts and his rich parents bring him to the Psychiatrist. Before
long, he too has to imagine a few songs and dances and so you have doubled the
number of song and dance sequences.
There is the local dada: Aaku Bhai (Brahmanandam) who also falls in love with
the Doc. She seems to getting every one around romantically inclined!!. Pushpa
in turn has fallen for the heroics of Aaku Bhai. Now you have the song and
dance sequence dedicated to the Shreya – Brahmanandam combo and here a few
genuine laughs; Brahma doing a Surya and Rajni, in a way only he can, gets the
house down with laughter. This time round, you don’t mind the song and dance
sequences.
While Avinash and Anand are planning strategies to get close to Nandini, you
have Aaku bhia’s blundering group heading towards Pushpa every time thinking
that their boss is in love with her. Even they do not perceive that he is in
love with the doc.
Those who have seen the Hindi original know the final twist in the tale, so a
bit of the surprise element is lost. For the rest the nagging question is who
gets the gal at the end. With not too many expectations, walk into the theatre
and you could have a few good laughs and forget it all as you leave the
theatre. It is a typical Allari Naresh film and it is amazing that the guy
carries a script of this kind so effortlessly. He has good company in
competitor Sarvanand. For the glamour element you have Shreya who looks more
glamorous than Juhi does but lacks the chirpy naïveté that Juhi brought into
the original. Ali and Bramanandam are a must watch. Light hearted, even lighter
headed. Head there with that in mind.
L. Ravichander.