Movie review 'Maine Pyar Kiya': Good attempt by a debutant director!
Cast: Pradeep, Isha Talwar, Madhumitha, Venu and Posani
Director: Pradeep Madugula
Rating: **1/2
Maine Pyar Kiya don’t confuse yourself with the Hindi classic is a small budget Tollywood flick that released on Friday. It’s the debut film for director Pradeep Madugula, who also stars in the lead role with Isha Talwar.
The film tells the story of Naveen (Pradeep) who works as a software programmer and has a habit of flirting with the girls in his office.
Shalini (Isha Talwar), a new employee comes to work with Naveen and he soon realises that she used to be his childhood friend and that they had parted on not-so-good terms.
But they fall in love and initially Shalini too, does not recognise him as the childhood friend.
It’s only when they are close to getting married that Shalini realises who Naveen actually is and cancels the wedding.
So, what did Naveen do in his childhood to anger Shalini and to have caused so much damage, forms the flashback after the interval.
The director has chosen a simple love story for his debut film. The first half is definitely entertaining. Lead actor Pradeep has done a decent job and Isha Talwar looks simply stunning. But she has to work on her emotions. The flashback episode is very interesting and well made by the director.
Another promising debutant is Satya Dev, who had to perform two characters — one young and the other, in the 40s. The variations in both characters are brought out superbly by Dev. In fact,
Dev’s acting is the highlight of the film and he definitely has a bright future ahead. Meanwhile, actress Madhumitha, cast opposite Satya Dev, has played her role perfectly. Rama Rao as Tanga Velu provides a few laughs and Komal Jha is just okay in her role as the HR girl.
But an overdose of Posani Krishna Murali and Kathi Mahesh’s gay rants irritate. Viva Harsha, popular on YouTube, has not done well in this film.
Overall though, it is a simple love story that could have been done better. The story is predictable and does not have many twists and the climax could have been better and a rather unconventional one.
