Just the other day, we saw a film in which the hero and heroine go to college and actually study. Driven by the motive to learn how to use technological advancements in rural development, they pay attention to classes and don’t mock lecturers. Ideally, it would be unfair to discuss Srimanthudu while having to review this Friday’s release. But it’s inevitable, when within a week one sits through films that are polar opposites in their portrayal of colleges.
Cinema Chupista Maava, like many mainstream films we’ve seen over the years, has a youngster who is unmindful of having flunked in exams. Kaththi (Raj Tharun) hasn’t cleared inter exams but finds his way into a college when he chances upon Parineeta (Avika Gor). From the lecturer to the principal, everyone is oblivious to the fact that he isn’t a student of their college!
Parineeta, we are told, has scored 996/1000 in her inter exams and is considered a walking-talking goddess Saraswathi. The gap between her and Kaththi becomes tougher to bridge thanks to Parineeta’s father, Somnath Chatterjee (Rao Ramesh), who takes his penchant for quality control a little too seriously.
The tussle between a tough father and a youngster who’s considered a failure is a thread that’s been explored before and can still offer something new. But it’s a test of endurance to watch Kaththi match his wits against Somnath. The wafer-thin storyline gets stretched with forced comic sequences.
In the initial portions, the film shows a supposedly comic sequence in which students enact a skit that’s a mix of Ramayana and Mahabharata with a new message. It’s just a glimpse of how frustrating the film can get. And it gets worse by and by.
Raj Tharun and Avika Gor try to create the magic of their first hit, Uyyala Jampala, but without a good script and direction, their amateurishness comes through. Avika’s character is poorly etched with all the focus being on Raj Tharun and Rao Ramesh. Would a state first rank holder be so clueless about what she wants to do in life? Is getting married to a wastrel all that she can think of?
Rao Ramesh shone through in a clutch of films last year and it’s a pity to see him in a role like this one. The opening sequence shows him as a quality and vigilance control officer with Medical Council of India, coming down firmly on Posani and his hospital for re-using syringes. Pray, what’s wrong with that? But soon, he is reduced to an egoistic person who overdoes the quality control.
Cinema Chupista Maava
Cast : Raj Tharun, Avika Gor and Rao Ramesh
Direction : Trinadha Rao Nakkina
Story line : A good-for-nothing youngster locks horns with a ‘quality-conscious’ father to win his daughter.
Bottomline: Loud and pointless.
