mnagaditya

Love Story is set in Hyderabad whose most famous love story is that of Quli Qutub Shah who swam across a river during flood times to save the love of his life, Bhagmati. This love story is between people who are from two different religions and social positions, and the only thing binding them is love. Hyderabad's foundation is built on love. Therefore the love story buds and grows in Hyderabad. And we are lured by it.

Real story surfaces when the couple realizes that they are unequal and even if they want to live together, it won't end well for their families. And here chaitanya's character has more to lose. Because since childhood he resented his unequal status and faced many hardships to create whatever he has now.

One beautiful aspect of this movie is how it deals with "TOUCH". For sai pallavi's character physical touch reminds her of the atrocity she faced as a child. For Chaitanya's character, being from a lower caste his touch is always considered impure. And beauty of writing comes out in a scene when he touches her, she feels discomfort even though she knows his touch is not intentional and he feels sorry as well as angry when she reprimands him, but he cannot show.

They both carry a lot of emotional baggage in this movie. Which is why when heroine KISSES hero, it had a huge impact. And he cries when she kisses conveys the acceptance he feels of both her love and society as a whole. HIM BEING UNTOUCHABLE ALL HIS LIFE IS WIPED OFF WITH THAT TEARDROP.

This is most mature writing I have seen from any Telugu director in recent times. Many questions were raised that we overlook in our day-to-day lives like What is Masculinity? How can child abuse affect their education? How can drinking father drains his child's security into gutter? Is his father's drinking habit root cause of all her problems? OR Is it the voyeuristic nature of a human mind? How can discrimination make you insecure? And when will you be free of that insecurity? Maybe never!!

My only concern is due to this heavy lifting, somehow the atrocity faced by sai pallavi's character took a backseat till the penultimate portion of the movie. And the movie redeems its mistake with the powerful performance of Devayani (sai pallavi's mother) in a single scene in the climax.

I can't say that I didn't enjoy the movie. Premise of a household ghost only visible to one person and trains her to be "My Fair Lady" makes a good premise for eliciting laughter if done right. But this movie feels as if it is made for TV. Melanie Lynskey is awesome. She fills life to this otherwise normal movie. And Judy Greer did her part. Not that this movie is bad, but could've done better.

Anyways I had fun watching it.

Is the movie lame? Yes.

Did I enjoy the movie? Doubtfully yes. You can enjoy it as well if you can go through the first 20-25 mins of nonsense.

Do I recommend it? Yes, you might enjoy in parts.

I started writing this review 40 minutes through the film and some parts until now really tear jerking. Especially the scene where raj's mother loses her senses thinking she has cooked for her son and raj realizing that as a child is really heart-touching. The cinematography is really brilliant and feels fresh even today and reminded me of the works of Kurosawa and satyajit ray. Especially the close-ups and top angle shots. No wonder this movie resonated well all over Asia and Europe. The child version of Rita reminded me of young Mary from It's a wonderful life by Frank Capra. And Raj Kapoor looks like Indian Clark Gable.

Later part of the film feels like a charlie Chaplin movie with most of the scenes plays in a fast forward fashion. I feel Prithviraj Kapoor shines throughout the latter part of the movie. With his eyes, he firmly induces terror into a viewer's mind. This aspect of his acting can be noticed in Mughal-E-Azam as well. I feel Nargis a little overrated here. She is not a real beauty, but the presentation of her is what made her so beautiful in this film. She looked so beautiful in this film. I have seen her films before and after this movie, but never this beautiful. Especially in the dream song sequence she is astounding.

I'm all praise for this movie. No two ways about it because MASALA CINEMA is India's identity. A well made masala melodrama is always my kind of cinema. This movie was released in 1951 4 years after India's independence. Cinema is a new thing for that generation. I wonder how they would've felt to see this movie on big screen. I myself felt like watching in a big theater.