An amateurish attempt

Vijay Sai Deverakonda is the man to watch out for in Telugu cinema, especially for those who want a hero from their region (read Telangana) to carve out a niche in the intensely Andhra-centric movie world.

Coming on the back of his runaway success ‘ Arjun Reddy’, this flick ‘ Ye MantramVesave’ however has been plagued by negative publicity and badmouthing between the producer and the teenybopper, who have blamed each other for the lack of hype surrounding the venture and the reasons behind it.

Having watched the 123-minute flick, one quickly understands why. The film had been awaiting release for a long time for one and then the veneer of amateurishness that clouds the proceedings is another. Vijay looks a tad younger than the filled-out frame that he has now in this delayed film, which looks to have been in the cans for at least a few years, going by the props shown in the cinema.

Shridhar Marri, the director of the film is a debutante like the heroine of the film Shivani Singh, who looks composed and assured. Keeping the young Telugu audience in mind, Marri spins his story in an IT sector environment, focusing on video gaming competitions and obsessive attitudes of the modern lot with the social media.

The film manages to raise the interest levels after the first few reels, when the hero and the heroine pose a challenge to each other, a sort of a catch-me-if-you can in real life, as the former is shown as an online gamer who is super successful. For this to happen, the viewer has to endure a short film feel to the initial phase and soon after the intermission when the movie gets into a compromise mode, trying to interject romance and action simultaneously.

The suspense, which is hardly mindboggling is revealed at the end, by which the limited histrionic abilities of the hero is woefully exposed and the lack of zing to the tension that is sought to be built up bogs down the narrative to a considerable extent.

Wisely keeping the shooting locales rooted to the city by and large to rein in the budget, the production team ends up dishing out a message-laden film for the youngsters to stay away from the social media addictions. Yet, the noble intentions are lost in a run-of-the-mill approach taken to deliver it effectively.