Performances stand out in tedious fare

'Majili' (a halt in between travel or a part of journey), the movie where the most loved couple in industry, Naga Chaitanya-Samantha (Chaisam), seen first-time on screen after their marriage and as we know the expectations are quite above the mark.

Though the movie's trailers and tunes set the stage for movie to perform, the slow narrative and director Shiva Nirvana's ill-defined characters made it a long stretch, despite the film is just 154 minutes in length.

It looks insipid as movie tried to connect cricketing angle, but the director failed to do enough net-practice to showcase skillful game, as the game shown in the film is quite unconvincing.

The movie begins on a melancholic note as a break-up hit Poorna's (Naga Chaitanya) love for cricket is shown and then the narrative slips into cheerful past of an aspiring cricketer and youthful lover, and there are circumstances he faces from a local goon Bhushan (Subba Raju), shown as antagonist but another muddled character, which go sour and ruins the relationship of Poorna with Anshu (Divyansha Kaushik) and Poorna turns into hopeless addict, then we're shown to lady lead Sravani (Samnatha), who's vouching her husband to see him turn good and the rest of the movie deals with exploring a solution about an emotionally abused relationship of Poorna-Sravani.

Leaving behind some loopholes, Chaitanya gave a matured performance and matched acting strides with his wife and actress Samantha in emotional scenes and climax sequences between the two, stand out.

Poorna's girlfriend Anshu played by Divyansha Kaushik looks charming and pristine, but had limited scope showcase her acting skills.

The other major characters played by Rao Ramesh (Poorna's father), Posani Krishna Murali (as Poorna's father-in law) were quite good and Rao Ramesh continued his legacy with emotional connect, but director wasted talents like Atul Kulakarni.

Shiva Nirvana, who gave hero Nani a super-hit romcom 'Ninnu Kori', failed in parts by exploring mass elements like action sequences which makes movie more tedious.

The tunes composed by Gopi Sundar are catchy and pleasing, but Thaman's BGM failed to impress audience. Over all, tear-jerker scenes are well-captured but director couldn't sustain the mood due to wafer-thin content.