We’ve seen films that ask how far you will go for love. Here’s one where the hero puts himself through a series of tests to find out if he is truly in love. Abhi (Sushanth) is a specialist in drawing a wedge between couples coming to tie the knot at his adda, the registrar office. Parents and siblings who don’t approve of a couple pay Abhi a tidy sum and he makes the couple drift apart for good. On occasions, he stands up for the couple and helps perform their wedding rituals, for a small sum.
This smooth operator meets his match in Priya (Shanvi) who seeks his help to thwart her elder sister’s romance, which she fears will invite the wrath of the groom (Dev Gill) chosen by her father Shankar Patel (Nagineedu). Abhi and Priya go about doing this break-up job through some funny and some contrived sequences. In the process, they almost fall in love but circumstances force the two to question themselves if they are indeed in love.
Director Karthik Reddy’s romantic comedy is targeted at college goers and has an interesting premise. There are sparks of good writing and execution now and then, but most of it is lost in desperately trying to playing safe. A random item number is thrown in, there are plenty of references to Sushanth’s family background and sporadic scenes from Mahesh Babu hits are played out.
Until the end, the lead characters dilly dally on confessing their love for each other and you end up feeling you’re watching a distorted version of Ye Maya Chesave. Yes, Adda makes a reference to that famous Gautam Menon film as well, albeit through comedy.
Sushanth looks confident and shows improvement from his previous films, but still has a long way to go. Shanvi looks pretty and struggles in her role of a younger sister stepping into her sister’s shoes to save her family pride. Nagineedu, Suhasini and Srinivas Avasarala are all wasted in roles that leave no impact. The most curious characterisation is that of Dev Gill. We are made to believe he is menacing but as the film progresses, he is reduced to a cardboard villain and a butt of jokes for his own henchmen.
Adda gives you a number of quotable quotes on love and some of it leaves you in splits, whether you relate to them or not is a different matter. What’s in poor taste though is the lewd homosexual humour involving Thagobotu Ramesh, Dhan Raj and co.
The idea of a break-up specialist is novel, but the execution isn’t. A taut script, better performances and production values would have made this an engaging watch.
ADDA
Cast: Sushanth and Shanvi
Director: Karthik Reddy
Music: Anup Rubens
Bottom line: A break-up specialist falls in love and is unsure if it’s for good.
