Lovely Review

Lovely is a film where the hero has to deal with a difficult father before he could marry his girl and the father happens to love his daughter so much so that he cannot think of letting his daughter go with someone he thinks is not right for her.  For all the sense of deja vu that a mere mention of these elements may give you, Lovely makes a good watch because of the way the story has been executed by Jaya.  With a relatively less familiar face like Aadi and a newcomer like Shanvi, she weaves a breezy entertainer with minimum tense moments and maximum light-veined scenes.

Aside from a well-written screenplay, Lovely boasts of a set of intelligently picturized songs (and Chori Chori is the best one).  It has a bankable pair in Aadi and Shanvi, who give a lease of fresh air to the proceedings in their own ways.  While the hero looks more convincing in intense moments than in temperate scenes, Shanvi shows her flashes of talent in songs more than in scenes.  Without the usual dash of melodrama and heavy dose dialogues associated with mawkish dramas, Lovely juxtaposes a father-daughter sentimental track with an enjoyable Facebook friendship that develops into love before guy knows it.

Akash (Aadi) and Lavanya (Shanvi) end up taking forward a relationship their friends (Vennela Kishore and Anchal) started on FB.  As they get closer, Akash's involvement gives impotent rage to Kishore.  What began as fun soon becomes a matter of heart for both.  Before she knows, Lavanya falls in love with Akash.  There is a problem, of course.

The girl has a doting father in Mangalam Maharathi (Rajendra Prasad), who thinks that his lovely daughter is living life on lines he penned down in a diary.  Will he succeed in subverting Akash, whom he happens to mistake to be a dishonest romeo out to cheat Lavanya for the sake of his wealth?

The director successfully follows formula without boring the audience anywhere.  She plays safe by falling back on a time-tested formula but offers entertainment by concocting a lengthy track interspersed with romance and friendly jollity.  Shyam Manohar's dialogues are pithy; they do not come with the baggage of excessive sentimentality.  The lines are even better in humorous scene and one of them goes like this - "I know my rights", says Kishore who is asked to leave the classroom after he is caught snoring.

Technically, Lovely is a well-executed one.  Anup's background score is creative.  Cinematography catches the beauty of Istanbul and Goa well and it helps the lead pair strike chemistry.  Choreography is splendid (in fact, the difficult steps feel dissonant at times).  Ram-Lakshman's fights are not lengthy and elevated by a snazzy background music.

Coming to performances, Adi has matured since Prema Kavali.  He looks fresh and his comportment looks like his father's.  One feels that he deserves an action-significant film and, say, the role of an upright cop!

Shanvi doesn't bottle up oomph, but she fits the bill and that is important.  She dances well and carries the role of an ever-loyal girl with panache.   Rajendra Prasad plays a caring father with conviction and he pulls of the role with ease.  One feels that the Rajendra-Aadi comedy track could have been handled better.  Ahuti Prasad is at his usual best.