Ye Maaya Chesave - Review

Gautham Menon is known for bringing out excellent love subjects on the silver screen. Almost every artiste likes to work with this award-winning director and Naga Chaitanya got one such opportunity in the early days of his career. Moreover, the film Ye Maaya Chesave has yet another speciality in the form of music director. Oscar award winner AR Rahman scored music for the movie. One more interesting point behind the movie is the banner — Indira Productions and the film has been presented by none other than Super Star Krishna. All these points raised the expectations on the film further.

Karthik (Naga Chaitanya) is a drop out of engineering studies. His father admits him in the engineering college, but Karthik expresses his wish to become a filmmaker. His friend Krishna (Krishnudu) takes him to director Vinayak (VV Vinayak) and pleads with him to take him as his assistant. Meanwhile, Karthik accidentally meets his landlord"s daughter Jessey (Samanta) and loses his heart at the first sight. Despite being elder, Karthik expresses his wish to love her and reveals it straight to her. Her father Joseph (Devan) would not accept to marry a Hindu and he is also against love marriages. Whether he will get his lady love and whether he will become a filmmaker should be watched on scree.

PLUS: The excellent screenplay and directorial capability of Gautham Menon is clearly visible on the screen. The film Ye Maaya Chesave has no great commercial elements, no big action scenes, exposing heroines, item numbers, nor double-meaning dialogues. The film was so neat and clean that the audiences would feel immersed in the film, especially in the second half.

The film Ye Maaya Chesave is like something happened in the real life and the dialogues are very simple and very near to nativity. Gautham Menon has proved that if a director really wants to portray a love story on the screen, he does not need to go for hi-fi scenes and can be moulded it very simple way. No doubt, it is a director"s movie.

Naga Chantanya"s characterisation was very suave and natural. He has also improved a lot from the first film and the dialogues are one liners and simple. Heroine Samanta is great in looks and she is so talented when it comes to performance. Gautham Menon should be complimented for introducing a good heroine to the Telugu film industry.

Music by AR Rahman is another asset for the film. Though the songs are not so impressive while listening, they are very impressive while watching them on screen and after watching the film, the audiences really feel how good tunes they are. The re-recording is furthermore impressive and elevated many scenes in the movie. Camera work by Manoj Paramahamsa is also impressive and he captured the beauty of Kerala as well as in the foreign locales with his camera eye well. Other artistes including Sanjay Swaroop, Devan and Surekha Vani have done justice to their roles.

MINUS: The film could be enjoyed by a certain set of audiences. The slow and silent narration, absence of mass elements, high-voltage action scenes and thread works in fights and the subdued characterisation of the hero, may not be liked by the mass audiences. However, for those who go to watch a silent and good movie, the film would be quite interesting. The director has ignored to explain, why the hero neglects his craze towards films, for which he even left his studies and move around the heroine in the name of love. Of course, he realises the mistake and shows that the hero concentrates on his career in the second half. The characterisation of hero"s parents is not so impressive. Krishnudu has done a lengthy role and gave comic relief to some extent.

REMARKS: The first half of the film is very slow and almost all the audiences felt bored. However, the film picked up the pace in the second half and by the time it reaches the climax, the audiences are seen looking at others faces as if the film has come to an abrupt ending. Basically, the film is the best watch for those who look at it with heart. It is a heartful film. However, the grade of romance is a little higher in the film. The film sends wrong signals that when a boy and girl are in love, they are free to touch each other and even kiss each other. But for such romantic scenes, the film is worth watching by the entire family.

Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Samanta, Krishnudu, Tanya, Sanjay Swaroop, Devan, Surekha Vani, Puri Jagannadh, Trisha (SA), Simbu (SA) and others

Credits: Music – AR Rahman, Cinematography – Manoj Paramahamsa, Editing – Antony, Presents – Krishna, Producers – Manjula, Sanjay Swarup, Story, screenplay, direction – Gautham Menon

Banner: Indira Productions

Release date: February 26, 2010