Neninthe Review

Aspiring to glint atleast once on the silver screen, a slew of youngsters arrive at KrishnaNagar and FilmNagar in Hyderabad, with a myriad dreams in their eyes. The aspirants are seen making rounds to the offices of producers and directors; also to the studios, to try their luck everyday.

The director depicts the flip and flop sides of these aspirants, makers, media, fans and even the viewers. In short 'Neninthe', is all about the film industry in a satirical way.

Ravi Teja as hero Siya debuting as heroine, Puri Jagannath directed 'Neninthe', which has been produced by DVV Danayya on Universal Media banner. The movie is released on 18th this month. Here, we present a concise review on the film.

Story

Ravi Kumar (Ravi Teja) completes his MBA and gets ready to realize his long cherished dream of becoming a movie director. His mother Rajyalakshmi (Rama Prabha) supports his ambition and encourages him all the way. Ravi joins as an assistant director with Idly Viswanadh (Brahmanandam), while Narayana (MS Narayana) is his co-director. Mallik (Subbaraju) is the star hero, and Sai (Sairam Shankar) is his ardent fan. Shayaji Shinde plays the producer.

Idly Viswanadh (apparently aping Puri Jagannath) begins to direct a film starring Mallik. Sandhya (Siya) is one of the group dancers, who aspire to become a star actress. Ravi meets Sandhya on the sets of the film, and gradually their acquaintance develops in to love.

A rich rowdy sheeter Yadu's (Supreet Reddy) eyes falls on the riveting Sandhya.

One fine day Ravi narrates the subject of 'Neninthe', which he plans to direct himself, to producer Shayaji Shinde and convinces him to make a film with it. The producer although likes the story, denies to make it with Ravi as director, just because he is not ready to risk his investment with a debutant director. Consequently, Ravi also rejects to share his story. Ravi then narrates his story to Mallik, who also expresses his doubt on the feasibility.

However, after a trial shoot Mallik gets impressed and convinces the producer. As the producer incurred a heavy loss just before this proposal, he agrees to go with the project only if some one finances the movie. The rowdy Yadu makes his entry and agrees to finance the film. The movie begins shooting.

What are the further developments? Did Sandhya become a heroine? What was the response to Ravi's debut film? Did Yadu create any obstructions? All these have to be watched on screen.

Performance of artists

Ravi Teja with an interest in films, entered industry as a character artist with 'Allari Priyudu'. Later he also worked as an assistant director. He debuted as hero with 'Sindhuram'. Obviously, he did a good job in portraying an assistant director in 'Neninthe'. The dialogues of Puri Jagannath like `Paisaa sampaadinchadam chethakani vaadiki preminche hakku ledu' and `Thuduchukunte pothundi anukunte nootiki thombai-thommidi saarlu thuduchukovadaniki ready' and `Kaani nene pothanante nuvve pothav' are wonderfully presented by him. He delivers his best with the character and makes it more dignified.

Siya debuted with this film as a heroine. She had given out a splendid performance that the audiences could see the character of a side dancer. Siya is nowhere to be found in the movie as she has lived her character. She is undisputedly an additional asset to the film.

Ramaprabha as hero's mother, Surekha Vani as sister to the heroine, Krishna Bhagavan as brother-in-law to heroine, Brahmanandam, SubbaRaju, Mumaith Khan, Venu Madhav, Shayaji Shinde, Uttej, Raja Ravindra have all performed gracefully in their roles.

Sairam Shankar who played as the fan of star hero, did a good job. Telangana Shakunthala's character although appears for a short time, is a memorable one.

Technicians work

Puri Jagannath and Ravi Teja teamed up for this film after a hat trick of hits 'Itlu Sravani Subrahmanyam', 'Idiot' and 'Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammai'. Music and re-recording composed by Chakri is notable and orchestrated well. To be more specific the song 'Krishna Nagare Mava.' penned by Bhaskara Bhatla, is already a hit with the audience. The song 'Oh I Miss you' written by Ramajogaiah Sastry is also attractive.

Shyam K Naidu who is an inevitable technician in all films directed by Puri, did a very good work in photography for this film as well. Editing by Varma makes the film go steadily with out boring the audience. The sets constructed by art director Chinna look natural.

Director's portrayal

Summing up the struggles that he faced in industry while working as an assistant director, the pain behind the aspiration, and various currently perplexed issues like media, yellow journalism and reverence of fans, etc. in industry, Puri presented 'Neninthe' very well on Celluloid.

His punch dialogues have reaped good response. Although the backdrop is well known, the director presented the story without loosing the commercial touch.

He aimed at everyone (except the producers) who is connected to industry with satires in a realistic approach which is a good attempt. Some sensitive aspects like - the reviews presented by media, are said to influence the success of a movie in overseas releases; yellow journalism and its impact on the personal life of artists; as shown in the movie may be partially correct but not every time.

Criticism

Unlike, some of the earlier movies made on this background, which focused on a single aspect of movie making, 'Neninthe' presents a wide view of the industry and the people involved behind the cinema. The satires shot towards the media are realistic to a graceful extent.

We can say Puri Jagannath has succeeded in his attempt to bring the other side of silver screen on to the big screen, but not without ruffling feathers of few. In short, it is a worthy watch that entertains and brings out the story behind the story.

Cast: Ravi Teja, Siya, Mumaith Khan, Krishna Bhagawan, Brahmanandam, MS Narayana, Supreet, Sayaji Shinde, Subbaraju, Sairam Shankar, Raja Ravindra, Uttej, Rama Prabha, Surekha Vani, Satyam Rajesh, Venu Madhav, Kovai Sarala, Melkote etc.

Credits: Music: Chakri, Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu, Editing: Varma, Art: Chinna, Fights: Ram - Lakshman, Producer: DVV Danayya, Story - dialogues - screenplay - direction: Puri Jagannadh

Released on: December 18, 2008