Malli Malli Idhi Raani Cinema

Kudos to Kranthi Madhav. Not for making a masterpiece film but for simply daring. In fact he invokes even sneers, catcalls and boos from an audience that is so so used to seema violence and star cut screenplays that they find the offering difficult to digest. Primarily where he leaves an impact is with the dialogues that take a clear stance on love and the debate on the issue. And even the stance by the protagonist makes for interesting viewing.

Raja Ram (Sharwanand) is an athlete in the making. He lives with his single parent mom (Pavitra Lokesh) who takes music lessons to keep the home going. They have a wonderful home on the sea shore (a case of the art director getting the better of the filmmaker and credibility taking a beating in the process). Raja Ram’s local coach Surya walks in to help the gifted and focused college lad all he has. The boy from Vizag has great dreams in his eyes and is eying the gold medal at the National games. When Ram is not doing a Milkha he is following the doe eyed Nazeera (Nithya Menen) a local lass who dares to fall in love and defy the line of religion that divides them. All this is narrated to us in a flash back at a stage where the lovers have parted and the love story has gone sour or nearly.

Ram, however, has arrived in a big way and is now funding other aspirants. He recalls his love tale and how he won the gold at the Nationals and how he had suffered to pawn his medals to buy himself a pair of sports shoes. His mother dies suddenly and the world around him comes crashing down. Even Nazeera makes an unexplained exit from his life. For the rest of the film we are taken into the world of Nazeera whose rich parents live in Dubai. Her father initially rejects the Hindu-Muslim marriage but when he is confronted with the resolve of his daughter he decides to withdraw and how! Years later both Ram and Nazeera have a child each. This gets in the curiosity quotient on who their respective life partners are and how they got married when so madly in love. Both are unable to shake off the past. Love haunts them. They find it difficult to live down their past or even erase its minor details. Having taken the tale this far, the filmmaker fails to give it the deft touch. Instead it has a climax that does the script thus far injustice. With all the principal characters reaching the airport the script crash lands.

The film is not without its faults. In fact, it has many. Authenticity is a major victim and the story telling lacks punch. In fact the narration is achingly slow. It simply refuses to take off as the director labours to establish that the principal characters are in love. The cinematography (Gnanasekhar) is engaging and imaginative.

Sharwanand as the hero puts in a good effort and yet again marks a space for himself and is not the usual Tollywood hero we are used to Friday after Friday. Nithya too puts in her best and gives her role a very credible twist. Though her dialogue delivery leaves much to be desired, she emotes well and carries a challenging role well.

To those who are tired of the formula films and are willing to take a short walk out of the ordinary, this is an opportunity and as the title suggests, not common place.