Nuvvila Review

Nuvvila is a typical Ravi Babu film, wherein puerile youngsters, acerbic parents, parallel plots and eerie comedy situations are the norm.  This Usha Kiron Movies film has a bonus though: for all its not-so-earnest props, Nuvvila has a cute innocent side to it. The way the director treats the relationship between a 18-year old boy and his girlfriend, who is pregnant with the child of a deceased man, is heart-touching.  Also, Ravi Babu's midas touch is vibrant in the way he treats the blow hot relationship between a wannabe musician and a wannabe tv celebrity, that eventually turns into love.

Here is a bit about the story.  Anand (Ajay) is a confused guy, who decides to take off for a year before he can get clarity about what to pursue further.  Somewhere in a distant village, Raju (Prasad) finally decides to come to Hyderabad to realise his filmi dreams (he wants to become a player in a musical troupe), much against the wishes of his father.  Mahesh (Havish), who wants to become a fashion model, is a nightmare to his father because he drains his purse to buy ridiculous tatoos and senseless pants.

The three guys join a pizza corner to earn livelihood, and whole lot of action and drama begins in their lives.  Archana (Yami Gautham) jons the flat opposite Ajay's house.  It is love at first sight for our guy, before whose eyes the entire life he is going to lead with the girl flashes in white screen.  The curtains are raised for Love Track 1 - which is mature and sentimental.

Mahesh's affair with his girl goes awry when he beats up her father, mistaking him for a servant.  She designs an innovative plot to teach him a lesson: she enlists a gay to woo him.  To everyone's dismay (and not the audience's alone), Shailu (Haleem) falls in love with Mahesh for real.  This is Nuvvila's Love Track 2 - which is very in-your-face and even scatalogical.

Prasad is having bad luck and he thinks that it is all thanks to Rani's (Remya Nambeesan) proximity to him, and not because he cannot pronounce `Sa'because of which he is kicked out by the music directors Chakri and Kalyan Mallik.  Inspector Ranjith (played by Ravi Babu himself) forcibly marries off Prasad and Rani in the station, after they are mistakenly caught in a police raid on a beauty parlour.  When they are forced to live in a house, the Love Track 3 begins - and this is reminiscent of the film Happy, with the two giving tough time to each other.

The rest of the film is all about how Ajay wins the love of Archana and wins back his estranged father; Prasad and Rani realise that they are indeed in love; and Mahesh gets rid of the nuisance in his life.

Nuvvila's biggest strength is its intelligent screenplay.  Ravi Babu must be credited for creating interesting situations to tell a very ordinary story.  The comedy is madcap; the father-son sentiment is mature.  The drama seems to be taking place in a fictional world, with the ways of the characters sometimes bordering on the burlesque.  There is the Allari hangover though.  The interplay of funny fate and even funnier characters evokes laughter in some (and disgust in others).  For all their overt imbecility, the characters (especially Ajay's and Prasad's) metamorphose into mature characters in the course of the film.  For which Ravi Babu must be congratulated in no mean measure.

The gay character is a bit of a drag.  The director could have chopped the track a bit.  Nuvvila stands out as the first mainstream Telugu film with a full-fledged parallel gay-straight man rom-com track.  However, the playing to the gallery doesn't evoke laughter even from the front benchers.  This is the biggest minus of the film.

Performance-wise, it is the Prasad-Remi duo who are the best pair.  While Prasad (who looks like Krishnudu in physique) emotes quite well, Remi looks convincing as a girl who is deeply frustrated and pained that she is having to divorce Prasad.  Prasad has a good future, no doubt.  Others pull off their roles well too.

Technically, Nuvvilla scores some good points.  Music by Shekar Chandra is lively.  Art work is all right.

Dialogues are well-written and minimalist.

All in all, Nuvvila is a watchable romantic comedy with a difference.  Though the second half is a bit boring at places, the last 25 minutes make for all that.  Go for it!

Released on: 3rd Nov, 2011