Custom Search

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Nenu Meeku Telusa?


Nenu Meeku Telusa? - Movie Review

Dr. M. Mohan BabuPresents
In Association with 24 Frames Entertainment
Sree Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures
Nenu Meeku Telusa? (2008)
Cast: Manoj, Riya Sen, Sneha Ullal, Nazar, Uttej, Brahmanandam, Sunil, LateMallikarjuna Rao, Surekha Vani, Raghu, Harshavardhan, Tanikella Bharani, Hemachander, C.V.L. Narasimha Rao, Vizag Prasad, Tarzan, Suprith, Malladi Raghava, etc.
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues: Ajay Sastry
Writers: Thirumala Kishore, Thota Anand
Director of Photography: Suneel K. Reddy
Art: Ravinder
Choreography: Noble, Yasin
Stunts: Manchu Manoj Kumar, Tim Storms, Bob Chaplin
Fights: Nandu, Jholy Sebastian
Music: Achu, Dharan
Sound Design: Raghu, Rajasekhar
Lyrics: sirivennela Seetarama Sastry, Veturi Sundararamamurthy, Ajay Sastry
Film Editing: Baswa Paidireddy
Digital Editing: Naveen
Visual Effects: ThinkSmart, Pixeloid
Production Designer: Ashok Kumar Raju
Producer: Lakshmi Manchu
Direction: Ajay Sastry
CBFC Rating: U
Date of Theatrical Release: October 10, 2008

What's it all about?
Aditya (Manoj) a.k.a Adi is a Manager in S.S. Group of Companies. He survives an accident in which he loses his dad as well as his memory - all he can remember is only before he dozes off!With the advice of his US-based visiting doctor (Harshavardhan), he records "things to remember" in his own voice and keeps a note on his bedside to remind him every morning to play that tape. People around him include Madhumita (Riya Sen), the Vice President of his company and his girlfriend, the company M.D. (Nazar) who's his own uncle, General Manager (Sunil), and other colleagues Rajesh (Uttej), Lakshmi (Surekha Vani), etc. None except his uncle and doctor know his memory condition, and the doctor maintains all of Adi's life history in the form of cassettes. In his smooth life comes a jolt in the form of his uncle's murder, for which he becomes the accused, and no one knows (and he doesn't remember) that Adi is his nephew! Enters investigation officer Anjali (Sneha Ullal) who identifies Adi as her ex-lover from the college andtakes up the case with personal interest yet professionally. What happens next? How much doesAdi really remember? Did his ex-girlfriend take revenge on him for the dreadful past? What's the past really? How did the hero come out of his troubles? How did his current girlfriend see himthrough them all?

Performances
Cast:
Manoj fits very well into the skin of the role. His involvement in the film is not limited to being the hero, but he has taken care to design the stunts as well as pen a lyric, apart from taking part in the production part on his home banner.He keeps up the style in his role all through, delivers light comedy as is necessary, dances great,participates in stunts with ease and without a dupe! Manoj should be appreciated for making the film stylish with his presence and care. Riya Sen does the role of a professional yet a cute girlfriend appreciably, while Sneha Ullal appears in the role of an IPS officer with a college-based flashback, and does an okay job. However, her contact lenses are inconsistent throughout. Casting Sneha Ullal for a role very different from her debut film Ullasamga.. Utsaahamga.. is interesting, but she appears so very "non-Telugu" due to her contact lenses and seems like a misfit sometimes though she did deliver what's needed.

Nazar appears dignified as the worried uncle of the hero, while Harshavardhan has a different, non-comedic role as the hero's doctor. Comedic relief provided by Brahmanandam as an internationally famous Fashion Designer Barmani (rhyming with Armani) and Sunil is okay in parts but is too loud. A repetitive dialogue byBrahmanandam, though enjoyed to some extent, is not in clean taste and had to be censored out in one scene. Tanikella Bharani is wasted in a brief role, while Uttej is also casted in a rather unimportant role. Surekha Vani appears as the love interest of Sunil and provides somecomedy. Raghu appears as the hero's friend in the flashback episode, and P. Vasu appears as the hero's dad.

Technical Departments:
The plot point itself is not novel, but the story development is innovative. Ajay Shastry's screenplay is good, though it lags a bit here and there, but the climax should have been more presentable. There's much style in the taking, which is supplemented by the visuals: graphics, visuals, and choreography. The hero character's memory loss and taking help from the tape is sourced from the 1994 Hollywood flick Clean Slate (which was the original inspiration to Memento, based on which Ghazini was made earlier). But for this piece of connection, the current film is totally different from Clean Slate, and the director and writer should be appreciated for developing his own story, taking only an interesting characterization aspect from another film. Picturization of songs is particularly good and stylish; the visuals, graphics, and choreography are all different from routine and quite impressive. Stunts are designed well, and fights are executed well too. However, slow motion is used to show the fights clearly, but it has instead marred the effectiveness of the fights.

Dialogues are good in parts and evoke laughter in some scenes. Music is good, but the BGM seems to have relied more on already available tracks. Lyrics for the title song kannu teristE jananamelE... are good, and the tune for the remix of mabbE masakEsindilE! is very catchy and so's Yasin's choreography for the song. Editing is appreciable yet jerky. Production values are rich.

Notable Scenes/Dialogues:


" vaaram rOjullO maarchukOvaTaaniki idi nirNayam kaadu... prEma!" (Riya Sen to Nazar)
Brahmanandam: Heart patient-laki kooDaa doctors O peg taagamani chebutunnaaru.
Sunil: taaginOLLu kooDaa heart patients avutunnaaru! daya chEsi alaa evarinii tempt chEyakanDi! (in a party) (Reviewer's Note: The film makers should be appreciated for showing the statutory warning to avoid smoking and drinking, but included ample scenes involving bars and bottles. Lack of implementation has made the warning sound like a plain disclaimer! When they had the care to insert a dialogue such as the one quoted, they could have been some more careful.)
" asalu dEvuDu kooDaa naa laagaa nidrapOyi lEstE annii marchipOtaaDEmO kadaa!" (Manoj to Sneha Ullal)
Surekha Vani's comedy imitating Lakshmi Ganapathi Films' dubbed film trailers. " Blood lO unnaTTundi... flow-lO vacchEsindi! ...mana story-lO deeniki scope lEdanukunTaa..." (Before this dialogue, Manoj imitates his real-life dad Mohan Babu when Riya Sen asks him about friends, concluding with a parodical dialogue from Pedarayudu and ending in typical Mohan Babu style.)
Manoj imitating hero Raviteja
Manoj's dialogue about not using spoon to eat in a restaurant.
Manoj's cover-up with the gift of Leaning Tower of Pisa to Riya Sen and expanding the inscription "ITALY" as "I Trust And Love You". Minor Overlook:

Towards the end, Manoj claims he knows the murderer and calls everyone to his place the next morning. The scenes that ensue don't seem like he has identified his uncle's murderer. What did he actually know?
In the film Clean Slate, the hero records new stuff each day, as he starts knowing more things about himself and his life and surroundings. Why doesn't our hero do that?
The institution where Snehal Ullal met Manoj is shown as "Sri Vidyaniketan University", but their yearbook has a different name. Bottom Line:

Nenu Meeku Telusa? projects itself from a simple plot point and the story development is different from the routine. However, the film may not enthrall the regular Telugu audience, since the climax falls flat with incomplete treatment. It has more scope in 'A' centers for its stylish execution, but how the film will fare on the whole is to be seen.

TC Rating: 2.75/5

No comments:

Post a Comment