What intrigues and infuriates one is when a film has a cast that is over-aged for its characters. Here a girl raised in San Francisco feels stifled when her doting, over-protective and traditional father objects to her wearing sleeveless clothes and selects a groom of his choice for her, as he thinks that groom has all the pre-requisites to be a good husband. Unhappy that she cannot confront her father or pursue her higher studies, she runs away but is still unsure of what to do with herself. As she attempts suicide, the hero Sunny played by Sesh Adivi stops her and promises to show her how lovely and valuable life is. “Keep It Simple Stupid!” he tells her about life in the end.
Sunny comes all the way from India to America and shows an Indian American how beautiful a sunshine looks like, how thrilling it is to shop lift, escape and not get caught. The girl, just short of pursuing a degree at Oxford, enjoys the simple pleasures of life as if she has never been out of her home all her life, i.e she has never been to a pub or a party and is being forced to lead a life of compromise like her mother. It worked once with Genelia, acting as a child woman and savouring all the small pleasures in life in Bommarillu but this is America and it is like a guest treating the host. Right from the beginning, you cannot connect with Sunny’s character, Sesh overacts; you don’t know which of the two popular stars he was imitating and there was a second character who gets on your nerves trying to be a Mahesh Babu from each of his films. Not funny.
Except for Shafi and Bharat, all the characters seemed to be from the USA Shafi relieves himself on walls, the heroine’s clothes have been tailored to give way only at a certain place all the time, the hero calls himself mass and treats America like Ameerpet. The make-up has been so over done that he looks all ready for a fancy dress competition.
Priya is pretty and is promising but the character instead of making her look innocent and vulnerable presents her as a dumb woman. The story drags just when you feel it is drawing to a close. It takes a lot of time to settle down to the story and character and amateur handling of the script. The pace is slow, chemistry between the lead pair is nil and there is no entertainment quotient. The only happy thing about the film is that it has been filmed in authentic locations. Bharat and Priya brighten up the slow and dull tale and the title sounds corny. Directing and acting simultaneously is a tough job; we wish Sesh had left one aspect to someone and concentrated on the other completely.
KISS
Cast: Sesh Adivi, Priya Banerjee, Shafi
Direction: Sesh Adivi
Music: Sri Charan Pakala, Pete Wonder
Plot: Upset with an alliance a girl runs away and in the process finds a suitable boy
Bottomline: Sesh makes the simple story look stupid
