Chandamama, a good entertainer

Telugu film Chandamama shows that a film based on a routine subject like love could also be fashioned into an enjoyable fare.

Director Krishna Vamsi is quite adept at this art. He chooses a love theme with a rural backdrop and weaves a two-and-a-half hour enjoyable yarn. His dexterity at working out a good screenplay is quite apparent here as it leaves no room for boredom. 

Perhaps this is for the first time that Krishna Vamsi threw out stunts totally. There are no men flying around purportedly unable to withstand the protagonists' blows and no mindless violence, which is one big relief.

The rustic countryside is well showcased and all the characters appear sans makeup, which adds to the authenticity of the film. The nuance of relationships and the bonding that makes village life quite endearing is well captured. 

The entire story revolves around four characters Dorababu, (Siva Balaji), Kishore (Navdeep), Mahalakshmi (Kajal Agarwal) and Rani (Sindhu Menon).

The film being a simple love story, depends heavily on situational comedy to make it lively. For this Krishna Vamsi sketches the characters very well. The interplay of dialogues between Ahuthi Prasad and veteran Radhakumari as Sivabalaji's father and grandmother respectively is quite entertaining. In fact Ahuthi Prasad is delightful in this new role. He reminds one of Rao Gopal Rao in Mutyala Muggu.

Additionally there is Uttej as a village songster and Jeeva as a police officer, not forgetting the two heroes who make the film quite hilarious. Nagababu as the father of Kajal also does a dignified job. Navdeep wooing Kajal is quite hilarious and the punishment dished out to Navdeep in the police cell by Jeeva is funny. 

Krishna Vamsi takes occasional digs at television shows and tries to blend urban with the rural. Krishna Vamsi's penchant for the rural grandeur is evident with huge rangolis, bunches of marigold and mango leaves, which remind one of Murari.

But he packs in too many characters, mostly relatives and friends like in Ninne Pelladutha, which appears a bit unrealistic and to top it, all of them are as sweet as honey.

Coming to performances, Navdeep shines in his role and so does Siva Balaji. Sindhu as the cheeky young village belle and Kajal do their job. Nagababu gives a polished portrayal and 100 marks to Ahuthi Prasad.

There is a raunchy number by Abinayasri for the first benchers. Music by Radhakrishnan passes muster.

On the whole, a good entertaining film and credit surely goes to Krishna Vamsi, the director.

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