Neninthe - Review

Puri Jagannath and Ravi Teja have united for their fourth film after the hat trick hits Itlu Sravani Subrahmanyam, Idiot and Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi. The director highlights the pros and cons of the film industry and how the technicians are exploited. At the same time he satirizes the media, the yellow journalism and the sheer reverence of the fans towards the film stars. As a whole the film is "for, of and about" the film industry.

Ravi (Ravi Teja) works as an assistant director and Narayana (MS Narayana) as co-director for director Idli Satyanarayana (Brhamanandam) in the Telugu film industry. During the shooting Ravi meets Sandhya (Siya), a group dancer. Sandhya's sister Surekha (Surekhavani) get married to Rambabu (Krishna Bhagawan) who harasses her only to exploit Sandhya. Ravi narrates an interesting story to the producer (Sayaji Shinde). But he is not ready to take the risk with a debutant director like Ravi.

Meanwhile, a rich goon Yadu (Supreet Reddy), who usurps prime lands casts his eyes on Sandhya and Rambabu tries to make use of this in his favour. At this juncture, Ravi narrates the story to hero Mallik (Subbaraju) who also expresses his doubts regarding its feasibility. When Ravi pleads for a chance, he agrees for a trial shoot and they seek the help of Sandhya and other friends. Popular director VV Vinayak asks Ravi for a heroine. Having seen Sandhya's performance in the trial shoot, he books her.

When Sandhya becomes a heroine, Rambabu ignores Yadu. Mallik impressed with the trial shoot, convinces the producer. The producer had suffered much loss due to Idli Satyanarayana's film. The film shooting begins with Mallik as hero and Sandhya as heroine. At this time, an item dancer Mumaith (Mumait Khan), who had an affair with Mallik attempts suicide and is raped. This and the paucity of funds puts the project in trouble. Yadu comes forward to finance the project. But once the shootingis over Ravi finds his name missing in the titles. Eventually he teaches Yadu a lesson and replaces the name.

PLUS: Ravi Teja as usual is at his best with the character tailor-made for him. Moreover, it is a real life character, where the hero has entered the film industry as an assistant director. The director has moulded the character with precision, taking everything in a positive and practical way. The punch dialogues add to the charm and have got good response from the audiences. Heroine Siya is just okay and does not have much scope for performance. However, she is really glamorous in a romantic song. The highlight of the film is that the director has chosen each and every character to give a message to the audiences.

MINUS: The film deals with the problems and hardships faced by film technicians in the industry. The audiences are in no way concerned with the woes of the technicians and artistes, watch the film for mere entertainment. The director's effort is like spitting at the sky, which may boomerang on the industry itself. However, the director needs to be appreciated for taking such a daring step. The villain's role is not etched properly either. Though he was projected as a big goon, he could hardly do anything to the heroine or the hero.

REMARKS: The director appears to have a grudge against the websites and the media, who had tried to downplay him a few years ago. He makes several sarcastic remarks through the character of Sayaji Shinde on the reviewers and websites who keep narrating the entire story killing the mood of the audiences. Likewise, through Mumaith Khan, he shows how yellow journalism spoils personal life. He also concentrates on the fans' innocent adulation towards heroes and how they suffer in the long run. He gives a message to the audiences, not to follow their heroes blindly and Sai Ram Shankar has done role of a hero's fans' president in a nice way. Though the film is on the film industry, the director has mixed love story and action in a perfect ratio to make it commercially viable. It is a movie that could be watched once.

Cast: Raviteja, Siya, Sairam Shankar, Supreet Reddy, Subbaraju, Sayaji Shinde, Brahmanandam, Krishna Bhagawan, MS Narayana, Venumadhav, Raja Ravindra, Satyam Rajesh, Uttej, Ramaprabha, Kovai Sarala, Mumaith Khan, Surekhavani and others

Credits:

Camera – Shyam K Naidu
Music – Chakri
Producer – DVV Danaiah
Story, screenplay, dialogues and direction – Puri Jagannath

Banner: Universal Media

Released on: December 18, 2008