Trivikram script lacks the punch

Among the younger heroes to have made a bow in Telugu film industry, the case of Nithiin has always been a different one.  Firstly, he is one of those rare ones managing to stay around in the commercial race of the movie world, hailing from Telangana. 

Despite a very comfortable economic background and a solid backing in the form of a successful distributor father, his films, including the latest one – his 25th- in a span of 15 years – have at best enjoyed a rollercoaster ride at the box office. An average performer at best, he has had his own band of fans however to root for him whenever his films get released.

‘Chal Mohan Ranga’ is a different film in many ways. Firstly, the setting is classy, international in a way, as most of the proceedings in the movie take place in USA. A clear depiction of how the Telugu community has made America a location which they have managed to access and inhabit successfully over the past few decades. 

A desperate protagonist, who wants to live a king-size life lands there and from there on the entire action – a soggy mishmash of romance and melodrama between two lovers – unfolds for over two hours. The beloved is Megha Akash, a cute lass, who manages to hold on to her assigned role till the end.

Desperate to stay put in America and make his dollar dreams come true, the hero tries to place his self-centred requirements above than the romantic tangle which the heroine wants him to get enmeshed into. Of course, there are incompatible issues between them, the rich girl versus the poor boy factor being a  prominent one. 

Yet, the leading lady keeps her options open despite taking off to India without informing her sweetheart. No prizes for guessing that the scenes from here on move between the land of the Big Apple and scenic Coonoor, where the Tamil connection of the heroine is established.

If the first half is watchable for its attempt to set the pace of the film, the second half just drags on with repetitive scenes of the hero indulging in heavy drinking and crashing not one but two cars in the process.

 Lyricist – cum - director Krishna Chaitanya seems to have taken the approach that the heartache scenario that he sets out to portray will make the young crowd empathise with it. Yet, given the sheer predictability of how it will end, the audience remains unmoved and the film jointly produced by Trivikram and Pawan Kalyan peters out to be a long drawn saga of a normal love story in a foreign setting.