Much to love about this story
Film: Love Story
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Sai Pallavi, Rajeev Kanakala, Eeswari and others
Director: Sekhar Kammula
Rating: 3
Plot: What happens when two youngsters with big dreams relocate to the city? Can they take on the prevailing social system? Would they defy the odds?
Love Story movie review: Audiences who’ve watched director Sekhar Kammula’s earlier films, with their rustic settings and campus love stories, would find Love Story a surprise. More so because the romantic drama touches upon two prevailing social issues.
Love Story is not a formulaic story neither is it preachy about caste discrimination in our society. But Sekhar manages to strike a fine balance between his thoughts on the issue while chronicling an emotional love story.
Both Revanth (Naga Chaitanya), who runs a Zumba training centre in the city, and Mouni (Sai Pallavi), who moves to the city seeking a job, hail from Armoor in Nizamabad.
While Revanth has grown up facing class disparities in his village, Mouni who hails from the upper caste in the same village, escapes to the city for good after her BTech. In the city, Revanth, who happens to be her neighbour, offers Mouni to join his centre to train his students until she finds a job. Soon, love blossoms!
The plot unravels nicely as Revanth and Mouni fall in love. Sekhar’s writing once again holds the key to the film. Time and again, the ‘caste system’ mentions resonate through the film, even in the protagonists’ romantic track. Perhaps that’s Sekhar’s way of narrating a love story without deviating from the core conflict point — the caste system — something he establishes right at the start of the film.
Another of Sekhar’s strengths lies in capturing little moments of life. In Love Story, he’s designed the characters of two aspiring teens grippingly, with care to how they react in various moments etc. The entire romantic track between Revanth and Mouni is also engagingly written. The duo has their share of laughter and dull moments, like every young couple do — helping and fighting each other.
The film is narrated realistically and dealt with great care. While it starts off on a light note, it gets progressively serious. Through the film, Sekhar also addresses another burning problem many girls silently suffer — it’s the biggest reveal in the film, comes around the film’s pre-climax.
And yet, Love Story is a familiar tale, the pace of the film, slow — even testing your patience at times — with a climax that looks a little hurried!
Performance-wise, however, Naga Chaitanya delivers his career’s best; he’s brilliant as a guy constantly facing caste discrimination yet moving on. Kudos to him for taking up this role; many star kids may not have accepted it. Indeed, he had to unlearn much for the role, which is evident in his performance.
Sai Pallavi, with her uncanny knack of impressing the audience in any role she takes on, is outstanding and natural in Love Story too. Her dance moves especially are gracious and stunning all at once.
Love Story movie illustrates the prevalent caste discrimination amid a love story, and director Sekhar Kammula gets it right for most part, balancing the two aspects of the film.
