'Lovers Day', starring Priya Prakash Varrier, Roshan Abdul Rahoof and Noorin Shereef, hit the screens this Thursday. Here is our review of the college campus rom-com.
Story:
The film is a campus story set against the backdrop of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School.
Priya (Priya Prakash Varrier) and Roshan (Roshan Mohammed) are classmates. Cupid strikes instantly. With the help of Gadha John (Noorin Shereef), their relationship thickens.
When everything seems to be going well, problems in the relationship strike from unknown quarters. What follows is a tale of melodrama and a twist.
Analysis:
The film lives up to its self-described image of a campus story. With so many jovial as well as tender scenes happening everywhere on the campus, it's a backdrop that presents its own set of advantages. For example, it has been long since we have enjoyed a true-blue college comedy. This film fritters away the opportunity by turning lecturers into caricatures and students into unidimensional entities.
This one is a dubbed movie from Malayalam. Mollywood films have their own way of conveying a message. The lack of nativity becomes too tough to handle for the Telugu audience in this love story. Just to give an example, we just don't understand why the guys are paying a tearful tribute to late actress Sridevi all of a sudden. The song looks so out of place that the visuals and the sound belong to two different genres.
The comedy is quite lame, at least keeping the Telugu film standards in mind. There is a teacher who croons Christian songs the way those jokers used to sing in Jandhyala's films. You can imagine how outdated the tracks are. In another track, a student pines for a woman teacher and calls her up unwelcomed at odd hours.
The story takes its sweet time to reach an inflection point. By then, the audience comes to the conclusion that this is a kosher Mollywood film that plays by its own rules. Had the 'wink video' not become a national sensation, 'Lovers Day' wouldn't have been there in Telugu. What of Priya Varrier, the film's alleged USP? She gets sidelined for a good part. At one level, it's a disappointment. At another level, it's commendable because the director didn't increase the length of her role just because of that 'wink video' going viral.
The film should have avoided those cliched moments involving timid juniors and crazy seniors brazening it out.
One must say that the chemistry between Roshan and Priya is respectable. Roshan looks cute in some expressions, while the girl is a natural. A few characters, especially of Noorin's, are interesting in bits and pieces.
Shaan Rahman's BGM and Sinu Sidharth's cinematography don't deserve a special mention.
Verdict:
'Lovers Day' comes with a slow pace. Its story is OK but the scenes go for a toss. The execution falters. Lack of nativity is a big dampener.
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