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An entertaining pair
Highlights
A loutish group of friends, with the bridegroom in tow, drink themselves silly in a bid to outwit each other, misbehave at a wedding and get thrown out, as the marriage gets called off. Watching the drama is another set of friends, this time of the bride, who decides to teach these drunken youth a befitting lesson. While the first group has the hero, a successful software company owner in USA (Ashwin), the other has the heroine, Tejaswi Madivada, an IAS aspirant, shown as a gutsy and no-nonsense type, focused to realise her father’s unrequited dream of serving the country.
A loutish group of friends, with the bridegroom in tow, drink themselves silly in a bid to outwit each other, misbehave at a wedding and get thrown out, as the marriage gets called off. Watching the drama is another set of friends, this time of the bride, who decides to teach these drunken youth a befitting lesson. While the first group has the hero, a successful software company owner in USA (Ashwin), the other has the heroine, Tejaswi Madivada, an IAS aspirant, shown as a gutsy and no-nonsense type, focused to realise her father’s unrequited dream of serving the country.Shot well by keeping the focus on the road journey from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad, the film keeps a decent pace all through.
Ashwin is a good-looking, well-built protagonist, fitting the role well while Tejaswi just about makes it, seen for most part, slightly short on expressions occasionally. May be, her strict demeanour is what the director wanted of her, but still, it seemed just about passable.
Meanwhile, the devil-may-care alcohol- loving boys get the wrong end of the stick by seeing themselves embarrassed over social media platforms and FM radio where call-in listeners hear about their shameful antics and want them to be punished.
Tejaswi, by now travelling to Hyderabad, on a quirky coincidence with Ashwin in a hired SUV, recognises him. However, this does not stop her counter attacks, even as she goes to the extent of giving his friends in Vizag, thirsting for revenge, the typical police treatment.
By using her cop contact, a role well essayed by Prudhvi, she drives the message home to her co-traveller, about to take off to USA, that she means business. From here on, the film takes off as the lead pair engages in a tug-of-war throughout, only to realise that they are in love by the end of it all.
To sum it up, ‘Jatha Kalise’ works pretty well, probably, as it is one of the least-hyped up of the four films that have been released this festival weekend. It can be safely assumed that small films have begun to consistently appeal to that section of the audience who are liberal with aspirants and merciless with over-the-hill heroes who still think they have enormous power to keep the audience hooked with their repetitive mannerisms and tiresome tech-heavy flicks.
Clearly identifying his target audience, the 20-something Telugu youth, familiar with smart phones, but who still are not tired of some staple commercial masala content, director Rakesh Sashii manages to strike a chord. However, Saptagiri and Shakala Shankar’s comedy track somehow seemed forced and more as a safe bet to woo the fans of Mahesh Babu and Pawan Kalyan.
A relief for sure is the absence of item numbers and songs with rural flavour, keeping the proceedings light and smooth. More power to new names and newer initiatives is what one can wish as the industry looks forward to the New Year. - K Naresh Kumar
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