Nava Vasantham Review

Deepavali saw mega budget releases in Bollywood with Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. But closer home in Tollywood, there haven't been any huge releases. We have had just one release on Deepavali and that is Tarun's Nava Vasantam. Incidentally, the film is the remake of Tarun's earlier film Punnagai Desam in Tamil. The film was a hit there and after a three year gap, one gets to see it with Tarun playing the lead yet again in this film based on friendship.

Unlike the Hindi films, this one is a relatively low budget, family film with a heart-touching storyline. Well, is this the first time we have seen it? The answer is a huge no. But still the film manages to make you sit through it without weighing you down with extreme emotions.

As for the story, it is a story of four friends. Ganesh (Tarun), Prasad (Akash), Raja (Rohit) and Vijay (Sunil) play the gang of four who are all aspiring to do something big in life. While Ganesh wants to earn money to get his love Ammu, Akash is an IAS aspirant, Rohit is an aspiring singer and Vijay is a mimicry artiste looking for a break in films.

It goes without saying that like all aspirants, there are few who understand them and it is a big struggle for survival for all the four. Even their respective families disown them and this makes matters worse for them. How the foursome continue to work towards their collective dream and how Ganesh manages to help them achieve their goals forms the crux of the story.

The romantic angle is provided by Priyamani who plays Anjali and Ankita who plays Priya. While Priya's is rather vocal in voicing her feelings for Prasad, Priyamani is a silent admirer of Tarun.

Though the film provides ample scope for melodrama, the director luckily does not bite the bait and succeeds in toning down the tragic circumstances of the four friends. Only towards the end does one feel the heaviness of the subject. So barring the last few scenes, it is more or less easy viewing. The script is tight and no detours are taken to establish the characters. Comedy is not really scintillating, but Sunil has his moments.

Cast: Tarun, Sunil, Rohit, Akash, Priyamani, Ankita, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Tanikella Bharani, Telangana Sakuntala, etc

Presented by: Super Good Films' R B Choudhary

Music Director: S A Rajakumar

Producer: Paras Jain and N V Prasad

Director: K Shahjahan

Released on: November 9, 2007