"Yuvatha" Review

Film: Yuvatha

My Rating: 3/5

Music: Mani Sarma

Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh

Cinematography: Jaswanth

Lyrics: Krishna Chaitanya

Producers: Hari Tumma, Uma Prakash

Direction: Parashuram (Debut)

Release Date: Nov 7, 2008

Cast: Nikhil, Aksha, Ranadheer, Monali Choudhry, Narasimha Uthkam, Subhash, Sivanarayana, Sayaji Shinde, Narsing, Jeeva, Jayaprakash Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy, Prithvi, Giri etc

My Review:

Story:

A US-aspiring software engineer Ajay (Ranadheer), a wanna-be police turned securityman Kiran (Narasimha Uthkam), and an assistant film director Subbu (Subhash) are friends in Hyderabad trying to live their dreams. Veerababu a.k.a. Babu (Nikhil) , outcast from his uncle's family, joins them from Kesavaram village, where they were all childhood friends. Babu meets Vishalakshi a.k.a Baby (Aksha) in a strange situation, and very soon they fall in love. Subbu finally seems to have made it big, and while everyone is celebrating, an old feud fires up, leaving the would-be director with serious skull injuries. The friends, including Ajay's girl Madhavi (Monali Choudhry) and Baby, decide to pool up all sources for money for his surgery. They finally loan the amount from a merciless goon (Narsing). When he pressurizes them to repay him, they plan to rob from the security company where Kiran works, and they plan everything right, but Kiran decides to wait behind since it might hand them up all! Ajay and Babu get arrested by the police at the company, but that's after they realize someone else had already robbed all the money! Was Kiran true in his reason? What's his role in the robbery? How much does Subbu's accident really turn the story.

Performances:

Nikhil is at ease as a careless and fearless youth, but he needs to take care of his diction some more. Aksha is okay but has a short, insignificant role in the film that goes around friends. Ranaadheer, who also acted as senior student in Happy Days, has a considerably lengthy role in this film and he performs okay. His body language is stiff at times, though. Monali Choudhry is attractive but has a limited role as his love interest and the daughter of their house owner (played by Sivanarayana of Amrutham fame). Narasimha and Subhash fit in their roles well and have done good job. Sayaji Shinde as hardcore criminal Nananna who has a weak point of being a fan of Simran plays more a comedy role than that of a criminal.Narsing and Jeeva appear as comedy-oriented baddies, offering some good comedy through a part of the film. Jayaprakash Reddy as the jailer, Sreenivasa Reddy as a sentry, and Prithvi as "Krishna Manohar IPS" do a good job within the scope of their roles. Sivanarayana as the house owner is intended for comedic relief, but falls short of expectations of people who may want to compare his similar role from his much-celebrated TV show Amrutham. Hero Siddharth and Krishnudu (of Happy Days and Vinayakudu fame) appear in the end of the film, rather unnecessarily.

Analysis:

Debut director Parashuram comes up with an appreciable story line for the film. He also ensured a gripping screenplay and unveils the story carefully, maintaining elements of comedy and suspense in right proportions. In fact, it's notable that he has given more importance to the story than to the threads of romance between the two lead pairs. The taking goes in a good pace for most part; more care should have been taken in establishing the romance between the hero and heroine. Camerawork is okay, but the digital intermediatary (DI) work brings in inconsistencies pertaining to focus in a couple of scenes. Picturization of songs is okay, but it's more the lyrics that catch the attention of the audiences, and some tunes are catchy; choreography is okay too. Re-recording could have been better. Fights are choreographed in a natural style. Dialogues are very good and natural through most of the film, particularly depicting the hero's characterization. Editing is just okay. Production values are appreciable.

Final Analysis:

While the title Yuvata is not really justified for a film on friends, the film is a decent entertainer in its own stride. Good story, okay performances, catchy tunes and lyrics, and no-nonsense screenplay, garnished with light comedy through dialogues and scenes may enhance the life of the film that opened in a rather low key. The film has a good interval bang and the second half has twists that enhance the tempo.