Movie: Meda Meeda Abbayi
Rating: 2/5
Banner: Jaahnvi Films
Cast: Allari Naresh, Nikhila Vimal, Avasarala Srinivasa Rao, Sathyam Rajesh, Hyper Aadhi, Jayaprakash, Tulasi and others
Story: Vineeth Srinivasan
Music: Shaan Rahman
Camera: Kunjunni S Kumar
Editing: Nandamuri Hari
Producer: Boppana Chandrasekhar
Direction: Prajith G
Release date: Sep 08, 2017
Allari Naresh’s career has hit rock bottom of late as his movies have started flopping miserably. To save his career, he has acted in a movie called 'Meda Meeda Abbayi' which is based on a successful Malayalam movie.
Is the film as good as the original Malayalam movie, let’s find out?
Story:
After failing in all subjects in Engineering, Srinu(Allari Naresh) decides to try his luck in movies as he has some experience making couple of short films in his village. One day he leaves for Hyderabad to become a director.
On his train journey he meets Sindhu (Nikhila) who is his neighbor. He takes a selfie with her to boast to his friends that she's in love with him.
Realizing that he is not cut out for movies, he comes back to his village only to find that his selfie taken with Sindhu has put him in big trouble.
How does he come out of this mess is rest of the drama.
Artistes’ Performances:
People are tired of Naresh doing same spoof sequences of hit movies in his films one after the other. Luckily he has refrained from repeating such act here. In the role of Srinu, he has tried his best to give honest performance.
Nikhila Vimal suits well to the role of a homely girl but she is seen in one scene and dream songs in the first half and post-interval she gets some scope to perform.
Avasarala as the police officer cum detective is just okay. The comedy done by Jabardasth fame Hyper Aadhi is a huge saver.
Technical Excellence:
Technically "Meda Meeda Abbayi" doesn't have any extraordinary qualities to mention about. Cinematography to editing to artwork.... all the departments have done just plain job. One song is catchy but rest of the music composed by Shaan Rahman is passable.
Highlights:
Hyper Aadhi comedy
Comedy sequences in village
Drawback:
Dragged on screenplay
Incoherence in second half
Poor direction
Analysis:
"Meda Meeda Abbayi" is remake of "Oru Vadakkan Selfie", a 2015 Malayalam hit film starring Nivin Pauly. The director of the original movie has directed in Telugu as well. But the director G. Prajith has failed totally in narrating it grippingly. His lack of understanding of the Telugu language and storytelling could be one reason.
The film begins with title cards appearing like WhatsApp messages which is good. After few dull sequences in college, the story turns interesting as Allari Naresh is trying to make a short film. This portion has generated some good laughs but the same tempo is not maintained in rest of the movie.
Moreover, the two halves of the movie are quite different from one another in tone and narration. It is like watching two different movies on a single ticket.
First half runs like a comedy and second half is more of a detective thriller. Before the interval, the director has played with the scenes like Allari Naresh being hopeless in education, his passion for movies and his playful acts with friends.
Post-interval the story focuses on how a selfie changes the course of the drama. Though twist is interesting, the second half completely spirals down.
The fun banter between Naresh and Hyper Aadhi has worked out so well. Other than the comedy punches thrown by Hyper Aadhi, the movie hardly has any other fun sequences.
Post interval, the drama turns monotonous as hero tries to search for the heroine and then hero and heroine together go on searching for the heroine's former lover. This search mission goes on and on.
If the second half was handled in a better manner, the film would have been a better comedy movie but it ends up as neither comedy nor a serious movie. It deals with the subject of online romantic frauds but this angle comes very late.
Such flat narration doesn't draw us into the story. It is hard to believe that a selfie creates such ruckus. How come an entire village comes to an understanding that Naresh eloped with the heroine for just a selfie? Even the Srinivasa Avasarala’s character seems quite peripheral.
In an attempt to come out from the routine comedy movies and act in a story with different orientation, Allari Naresh has picked up a script that has serious theme but it has many loopholes. Naresh has played a passive role and the Malayalam director is at unease with the Telugu movie narrative. Hence, "Meda Meedha Abbayi" doesn't entertain the audiences much, despite some good laughs in the form of Hyper Aadhi's punch jokes.
Bottom-line: Imperfect Selfie!