Ye Maaya Chesave Review

Ye Maaya Chesave is a tender love story woven around the characters of Karthik and Jessie - one, a youth completely overwhelmed by the new phenomenon in his love, that's, you know, a beautiful girl, and another, a lovable girl appearing credibly cute in saree, but seemingly painful when she lets her love for her father seep into a love relationship with the new guy in her life.  Coming with a light feel, not to forget a sluggish pace that tests your patience, the Gautham Menon-directed love caper uses a psychological make-up of its female lead as its counterbalance.  And it is her mental make-up, that is both a riddle and a bane for the rest of us - as well as for the hero.
 
Narrated with a restraint and a lilting feel, the young film is not the regular Telugu film.  It follows from the thinking, or say, conflict, of Jessie, and a conviction of Karthik.  If for the guy, running away with the girl is no big deal and a better option, for the girl, hailing from a Malayalee Christian lineage, who is torn between the love for her father and Karthik, it is an option one time and a bad choice another time.  Does this give out an impression that the girl is fickle?  In fact, the guy, who seems to worship her, finds her crazy. You can't help if you find her supra-crazy.
 
To begin with, Karthik begins his love story with narrating his first sight of the girl, who walks into his life, and the house upstairs.  Downstairs, our hero is presumably flying high.  New in love, he imagines a song.  Fresh out of college, he comes to know of a truth - that the girl is two years older than him.  Nothing deters him, not even the fact that they come from two different religious backgrounds, from pursuing her with a steadfast devotion.  Never the one to buy time, he confesses his love for her, saying that the rest of the girls are his sisters.

The shocked girl takes a week off and travels to Allapuzzah, Kerala, where she has always spent the best moments of her life.  Karthik rushes too, and finally finds her in the church, after four days.   "I am here to apologise to you," he says.  After a good lunch, he re-iterates.

After a few moments, you find the girl ready to be a friend of him.  She re-iterates, again.  She re-iterates, later again.  Until finally, lust seeps into their 'feel-good relationship' in the train, and our hero asks what it might have been.  He calls it love.

Jessie's family gets to know of the affair soon, and the two families slug it out.  The girl's father decides to marry her off in Kerala, and our hero goes on a trip there to see her off, one final time.  For her part, Jessie walks out of the church, much to the joy of the hero, who has not expected the sudden twist.

Soon, she reciprocates her love to him and he is just ready to do anything for her.  What follows next is to be seen on the big screen.

Ye Maaya..'s format and the style of narration is not cut out for the Telugu audience, who like more apparent, clearly stated love stories.  Any ways, there is nothing incredible about the way the thinking of the key characters is delineated, which if done, would have helped the film to an extent.  The more the situations grow subtle, the less the film seems clear and bearable.  The paradox is that, even though the hero is voluble throughout, his story doesn't connect to us much.

Performance-wise, Naga Chaitanya's acting is, to put it mildly, inadequate.  He doesn't show the rage and the frustration of a lover.  In fact, he doesn't seem to make a try.  Samantha is good-looking as well as perfectly fits the role.  Krishnudu, playing himself, is okay.

Technically, the film boasts of good music and background score (AR Rahman) and the cinematography is fantastic.

Though the slow pace and the colourless dialogue work against the film, Ye Maaya.. sinks in if you can patiently listen to its story.  The bad news is that, believe me, I heard titters of laughter in the hall.  All thanks to a narrative and a screenplay that fail to engage you.

Released on: 26th Feb, 2010