A frothy, fun-filled entertainer

Known for his amazing popularity among the teenyboppers and the tweens, both boys and girls, Vijay Devarakonda sizzles in his Independence Day release ‘Geetha Govindam’. The title is a clever rip-off of the Sanskrit poet Jayadev’s work, which is an 12th century epic poem on the love between Lord Krishna and Radha. Since this film too is all about undying love, it positions itself as a romcom and manages to justify the genre pretty entertainingly till the last.

Pairing himself with Rashmika Mandanna, the Coorgi beauty from Kannada cinema, the film flows with a series of sequences in which the hero is shown doing all that he should not to win over the heroine’s affection, a love at first sight case. Of course, the narrative places him in such circumstantial happenings, which widen the gulf between the lead pair, heightening the anxiety levels in the audience as to how it will all end favourably for the harassed hero.

Building in an engrossing and inter-connected side plot in which the heroine’s brother (Subba Raju) is keen to avenge the insult meted out to his sister and wipe the stain of scandal on his image, the director Parasuram, who has half a dozen films to his credit in the last decade keeps the proceedings well under control. The action is encircled around the four characters, by and large, and the heroine, who retains her poise and chemistry with Vijay Devarakonda throughout is a delight to watch.

This is the highlight, in which the hero is seen submissive and the heroine always a foot ahead of him, plotting his downfall and keeping him under her thumb. It turns out to have the amorous effect on her at a later stage, which is predictably not well understood by her beau, who rejects her initially, only to realise later that she is the one and only option for him in his life. Of course, nothing happens in Telugu cinema without the last-minute heart aches, which result in a happy ending.

Exploiting the glamourous slot of an all-round hero, Vijay Devarakonda rides his luck in a flippant manner, which is his USP, endearing him to the delirious fans who thronged the theatres on the opening day. Gopi Sunder, the Kerala import, composes some hummable numbers and cements his position as a top slot music director with this film, one among the many in which he has been scoring music in the current year.

BY K Naresh Kumar