Picture this! You are about to eat a most delicious sweet which looks alluring, dressed up in picture perfect package, only when you taste it, you know that it has been peppered with and has some sour in it. Well that just sums up, Nitin's latest film, "ISHQ". This entertainer has been packaged well and marketed well too, but somewhere something happened and the end result is not up to the expectations. So what went wrong with Ishq? Let's see.
Rahul (Nitin) is a happy-go-lucky youngster studying in New Delhi. He has an ability to turn his enemies into friends with his wit and intelligence. While he is moving back to Hyderabad, he meets Priya (Nitya Menen) at the airport. Their flight gets diverted to Goa due to rainfall in Hyderabad and in the meanwhile, Rahul and Priya attend a marriage and fall in love.
Before Rahul expresses his love, he gets a shock of his life when he finds that Priya's brother is Shiva (Ajay) with whom he had a violent history. He knows that Shiva will not allow their marriage. Can Rahul play with his wit and charm and convince Shiva to get them married forms the rest of the story.
As said earlier, "ISHQ" gets spoiled and the end taste is sour than sweet. The first half of the film sets things up quite nicely and we believe that we are going to see a breezy entertainer in the mould of "Ala Modalaindi" and the more recent "Love Failure," but the second half more focuses on the one-oneupmanship and mind games between Rahul and Shiva and loses the real romance between the hero and the heroine.
The drama which ought to have developed between Rahul and Priya is put aside and their track becomes very one-sided without any friction as there are no conflicts between them. There is only one conflict for the hero and that is Shiva. Compared to Rahul, Shiva's role gets more scope and appears more varied and evolved. The director Vikram should have etched some conflict in the love story rather than playing to the gallery by making the villain look cornered. Had the focus been on the drama between the hero-heroine then the end result should have been an icing on the cake in this Valentine month.
Other than this, the technical departments, especially Cinematography and re-recording created a great impact. When someone like PC Sreeram is handling the camera that is the output you get and this film is a revelation for Aup Reubens with regards to the background score. He almost made scenes compelling with his score. Check for his score in the Airport scene. Stunt choreography was alright and there are places where Sreekar Prasad would have used his scissors to edit the length without losing the essence and those are in the second half. Ramesh Samala did a fine job with dialogues.
The director, Vikram Kumar is a bright prospect and had he spent more time on his story developing the lovers thread more, then everyone would have been raving about him. On the whole, Vikram will get talked about as the youth are taking to this film nicely.
Coming to the performances of the cast, this is a welcome break for Nitin who was struggling with his career. He looked more rounded as an actor but his stiff legs still need some loosening while dancing. Overall, its a breather for Nitin.
Nitya Menen brings in all that believability into her character. She is one actress who talks with eyes and before she speaks, her thoughts are already understood. She looked ravishing and remains the best part of the movie. ISHQ would be another break for her.
Another important cog in ISHQ is Ajay who has the most complex role in the movie and performs it with élan. He is apt as a violent man and looks convincing as a reformed man too. He almost carries the weight of entire second half on his shoulders and manages fairly well. The supporting cast of Rohini, Kasi Viswanath, Ravi Prakash, Nagineedu and Sudha do their routine and just vanish. But what was Sindhu Tolani doing in this film? She plays sister to Nitin and looked very old. Sad to see talented actresses being underutilized.
Overall, ISHQ is an OK sort of a movie which would not bore you and does entertain you in bits. But it could have been a memorable had the director spent..... Well, I have said enough.
