Movie: Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Geeta Arts, S V C Cinemas
Cast: Sai Dharam Tej, Jagapathi Babu, Regina, Prakash Raj, Sayaji Sinde, Raghu Babu and Others
Music: Anoop Rubens
Dialogues: Diamond Ratnam
Editor: Gowtham Raju
Cinematography: Dasaradhi Sivendra
Producers: Bunny Vas, Harshith
Story, Screenplay and Direction: A S Ravi Kumar Chowdary
Release Date: November 14th, 2014
Finally the big day has arrived for Sai Dharam Teja, the new hero to debut from the mega family. After waiting for a very long time for the release of his first film, he finally debuts with his family production house Geeta Arts. So, let’s see how Sai Dharam Teja’s first release has come out.
Story:
The story begins with a notorious politician Ganga Prasad (Sayaji Shinde) and a clean politician Prabhakar (Prakash Raj) vying for the CM’s seat.An investigative journalist Shafi (Shafi) breaks a story on Ganga Prasad and reveals that he has some important information on the candidate aspiring to the next CM.In comes Maisamma (Jagapati Babu), a contract killer, who is assigned the task of finishing off Shafi by the SP (Ahuti Prasad).
Once he is done with Shafi, Maisamma is given another photograph as the next contract. Meanwhile, it’s time for the hero’s debut and in comes Srinu (Sai Dharam Teja) from Palakollu. He finds his way to Maisamma through Yadi (Raghu Babu) to seek his help to get rid of a person. Of course, Maisamma is not convinced and refuses to take up the task. That’s when Srinu narrates how he fell in love with Siri (Regina) and why he wants Maisamma to finish off a man. The scene shifts to an engineering college where both Srinu and Siri are students and from here on the story takes a few surprise twists and turns.
Artistes’ Performances:
Ever since he was about to debut with YVS Choudhary’s Rey, Sai Dharam Teja has been presented as a promising star waiting to be introduced. Well, finally, one gets to see him in action. For a debutant, he is very good and has a natural ease. His tall frame is surely an asset for him and like his uncle mega star Chiranjeevi and his cousin Bunny; he is rather good with his dance moves.Since he has debuted with his home banner, he gets to dress well and gets ample screen time to display all his talent. Though the film is primarily a love story, he also gets to flex his muscles.
Regina on the other hand looks okay for the role and she goes about it sincerely. After Ileana and Kajal, she seems to be the new favourite of the mega family. Well, she is no glam doll for sure, but suits the role of Sailaja or Siri perfectly.
Jagapathi Babu is thoroughly enjoying his new-found success and his comic villain role is a cakewalk for him. After watching villains from other languages for a very long time, it is nice to see a Telugu actor filling up the space.
There is nothing new to say about Prakash Raj who plays his character convincingly. Of course, he has competition in the form of Jagapathi Babu, but the director has managed to give them enough space to show off their talent.
Others like Shafi, Pridhvi, Satya, Raghu Babu, Hema, Chandra Mohan are among others who fill the other parts and are their usual best.
Technical Excellence:
Music by Anup Rubens is okay but the title song is catchy. There is another number in the beginning which is also good on the ears. Cinematography and editing are good. Dil Raju was quite confident of the way the director has handled the screenplay at the audio success function of the film and it is indeed a different approach to a love story. After a lull in his career post Yagnam, AS Ravi Kumar Choudhary is back with PNLJ and he makes a decent effort to present the latest mega hero in an entertaining format.
Highlights:
Sai Dharam Teja
Direction
Comedy
Title song
Drawbacks:
Regina looks too plain Jane
Analysis:
It is every actor’s dream to have a dream debut with the industry’s biggest banner. In case of Sai Dharam Teja, he’s got the chance to debut with not one mega banner, but two of the biggest names in Telugu film industry. With Geeta Arts and Dil Raju co-producing the film, there were a lot of expectations from Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam. But credit must be given to director Ravi Kumar Choudhary for making a film that will work well with the young audiences.
His story has many twists and turns, some predictable and some not so predictable. Yet, he maintains the pace and makes sure that the film has all the commercial elements in place. Instead of relying on action as is the norm with debut films, Ravi Kumar relies on comedy to pull off his film and that did have the audience laughing all through the second half.
It is heartening to watch Sai Dharam Teja debut after a long wait and Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam might turn out to be his trump card to get a foothold in the industry. Of course, it is no bang, bang, vroom, vroom, kind of debut, but Sai Dharam Teja has surely got the right film to make his big screen debut.
Bottomline: Comic entertainer
