A breezy OTT movie worth a one time watch. When this movie released on Netflix, I audibly cringed as I was never a fan of Akhil Akkineni's nor Pooja Hegde's acting but I was bored out of my mind and I had already watched all the critically acclaimed films there were on this platform so I decided to give it a go.
My first impression from the first scene itself was that it was filled with the archaic and outdated sexist wife-bashing jokes that, let's be real, all our fathers are still sharing on WhatsApp. Hence naturally I had thought this movie was going to go nowhere in terms of storyline nor complexity of its characters and I was right to some extent.
Visuals wise, it is a very vibrant, stylistic and breezy looking film. The cinematography was crusty at times but you'll most likely get distracted by the background score. The BGM can be a bit much but Gopi Sunder as always knows how to elevate certain scenes with the right amount of musical tenacity. Also it is 2021, when are directors going to focus on writing proper stories instead of adding an unnecessary amount of songs in the film?
Moving on, the performance by the lead actors was what I was most surprised by. Akhil and Pooja make a good pair, it's visually pleasing to watch no doubt but I had very little expectations for their acting therefore I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had improved. Akhil has managed to find a middle ground in reflecting his grandfather and father's style and with more experience, he would be able to create his own. Pooja has gotten better at emoting especially at the crucial scenes of the film but she still needs to challenge herself with more complex roles instead of always picking the modern and liberal girl next door type of roles. However, they both are taking the right steps in improving their performance so hopefully they will get better scripts in the future in order to shine.
On a whole, this movie was slow and could have been paced a bit better and there were so many elements taken from Bhaskers' previous films such as Bommarillu and Orange that it just seems recycled. However, the message is clear and well needed in today's society where parents are still forcing their archaic views and perspectives on a "perfect" marriage on to their children. Like the movie suggests, what's life with your life partner without romance? And like many old idiots who think they know it all and think that word romance itself is a dirty word that belongs in the bedroom clearly needs to wake up from the 1950s. Clearly they have not read novels, let alone those written by women. I must say, Akhil's character growth though very subtle and has a long way to go, can be justified with the phrase 'written by a women' because at the end of the day, a person should be able to show and act on their love not just say it for the sake of saying it. There's something about showing your loved one that you love them than just saying it. It's the simple gestures that doesn't require you to say it out loud, like your mother cutting fruits for you to eat when you are busy. My mother has only told me she loved me a few times in the many years of my life but I know she does so by her actions. This is the same expectation that one should have from your partner, if not, why get married in the first place? I guess this is the essence that the director was trying to convey, albeit he tried but some of us got the gist of it.
So give this movie a go if you want to kill time but don't have too many expectations. This is not a critically acclaimed level of film nor does it deserve to be called garbage. And for those who do call it that, had obviously not understood the meaning or message of this film.