Hello Premistara - Review

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Sairam Shankar, brother of versatile director Puri Jagannath, is fond of acting. Puri Jagannath introduced him to the Telugu film industry as hero through '1-4-3' in his own direction on his own banner. However, it turned into a failure. Later, instead of playing a solo hero, Sairam Shankar played small time roles in a couple of films. In a bid to prove himself, Sairam Shankar appeared before the audiences under his brother's banner again. But this time, Puri kept himself off from the movie and just remained a producer without involving himself in direction. Surprisingly, Dil Raju, who almost has no flops in his career as a producer, listened to the story and came forward to produce the film and remained a presenter for the movie. Though Sairam Shankar has a mark of a flop hero, he came out with flying colours in 'Hello Premistara…' and played dual roles which has two different shades, the positive and the negative.

Aravind (Sairam Shankar) is a mischievous boy. He always speaks lies but nonetheless is able to attract others. He gets a job in a mobile company and gets his posting in Hyderabad. So he reaches Hyderabad along with his mother (Sudha) and sister (Sudeepa). Nandini (Sheela) works for a popular TV channel and anchors a programme called 'Hello Premistara'. Aravind gets a chance meeting with Nandini for two to three times and loses his heart to her. He reveals his love to Nandini through the programme itself and wins her heart. Both of them fall in love with each other. At this juncture, there is another boy called Arjun (Sairam Shankar), who is a look-alike of Aravind. So, Nandini mistakes Arjun as Aravind and compliments him twice and kisses him in a temple. Arjun feels very happy and he also loses his heart to Nandini. One fine day, Aravind gets betrothed with Nandini after getting permission from her parents (Chandramohan and Sana). Then Arjun comes to know from his grandfather Ramamurthy (Vijayakumar) that he is none other than his step brother. During Arjun's childhood, his father (Bhanuchander) brought Aravind to their home following his first wife's death. But Arjun's mother was very kind hearted and treated both Aravind and Arjun similarly. But Arjun could not digest his presence and pushes him into a well. Fearing threat to Aravind's life from Arjun, his father keeps him in hiding in Kolkata. But Arjun was under the impression that Aravind is dead. Later Arjun loses his parents in an accident. So, bearing a grudge against Aravind, Arjun decides to eliminate him as he was responsible for the death of his parents in his childhood and now starts distancing himself from Nandini. He attempts murder on Aravind in Bangalore and returns to Hyderabad in his place. But Aravind survives and teaches him a lesson. Arjun realises his folly in the climax and the film ends on a happy note with the marriage of Aravind and Nandini.

PLUS: Perfect story, good script, gripping screenplay, director's taking and movement of the story are the basic plus points of the movie. Director Rajkumar, who has the dubious distiction of remaking a flop like 'Andhrawala' in Telugu and moulding it into a big hit in the Tamil language, was chosen by Puri Jagannath for this film and he was able to meet the expectations of producer, presenter and also the audiences. The director has portrayed comedy well ,and the placement of comedy is absolutely apt. Sairam Shankar also improved a lot. He shows great ease in dances and fights. Heroine Sheela is also okay and has filled the glamour slot well.

MINUS: Though the hero improvised his style and body language, he still needs to do a lot of homework. After the first half and before the climax, he appears a little casual and the commitment seems to be lacking. Music by Chakri is pleasant to hear, however, some tunes appeared similar to several contemporary film songs in 'Pokiri, Desamuduru, Sivaji' and other such films. It defies reasoning why the director kept the Sunil's alliance scene with Bhuvaneswari in a red light area.

REMARKS: Camera work by Bharani is excellent and the picturisation of songs have come out excellently. Marthand K Venkatesh should have sharpened the scissors and cut some of the scenes. Comedy track with Sunil, Ali is hilarious. Hero Sairam Shankar looked heroic in the movie and the heroine is also performed well. Others including Vijayakumar, Chandramohan, Sana, Sudha and others did justice to their respective rolls. Dialogues by Ramasimha are good in parts. The director portrayed the love, sentiment and other such scenes well on the screen. The film is worth recommending for watching at least once.

Cast: Sairam Shankar, Sheela, Vijaykumar, Bhanuchander, Vizag Prasad, Brahmanandam, Sunil, Ali, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Melkote, Srinivasa Reddy, Satyam Rajesh, MS Narayana, Kallu Chidambaram, Sudha, Sana, Sudeepa, Bhuvaneswari and others.

Credits: Dialgoues – T Rajasimha, Lyrics – Kandikonda, Camera – MS Bharani, Editing – Marthand K Venkatesh, Art – Chinna, Choreography – Raju Sundaram and Pradeep Anthony, Action – Ram-Laxman, Music – Chakri, Presents – Dil Raju, Producer – Puri Jagannath, Story, screenplay and direction – Rajkumar.

Banner: Vaishno Academy.

Released on: September 14, 2007