Rurban love story

It is a tale of overriding ambition and fear of losing one’s reputation. The story is set between two families, one stinking rich and the other just about keeping itself going back home in the village. As is compulsory in Telugu cinema, there are heavy undercurrents of emotions, ugly sparring and politics when it comes to deciding the future of the girls concerned in both the households.

Sticking to a milieu which alternates between the posh lifestyles of the urban heroine (Samantha) and the backwaters boy (Nithiin), Trivikram Srinivas unspools a film which has an ambitious woman (Nadhia in a role which is getting repetitive) and a pliant man (Naresh) who plays her husband, trying to get their daughter hitched to a prosperous boy from a city family.

The girl obviously is not too enthused and the father decides to send her on a trip to the hometown where her extended family lives. All planning done without the knowledge of his business woman wife of course! When the city dweller returns, she carries memories with her, which clash with the regimented planning of her mother. How the situation is resolved and how the hero manages to win her lady love forms the second half of the story leading to a feel good climax.

Trivikram seems to be stuck in the format that he adopted in the last few films of his, especially ‘Attarintiki Daaredhi’ as far as the relationship rupture plotline is concerned. Nadhia being a constant fixture other than Samantha may also be other reasons for this feeling of déjà vu. In addition to this, the thin story, stretched to a 154-minute film, tests the patience pretty much in the post-intermission phase.

This is not to say that the film does not have its moments. It is rich visually, the performances of the lead pair is pretty impressive with the heroine having an edge over the hero, courtesy her bubbly nature in the film. Rao Ramesh and Senior Naresh bring in their experiences pretty well to jell into the narrative and impress with their roles, the former reminding of his illustrious father with his dialogues. The director ensures that every character gets its punch line and dialogues to mouth, which are pretty interesting and worth appreciating.

The dampener for sure, is the clichéd set of sequences which go into this family social which has pathos but nothing much as sizzling chemistry between Samantha and Nithiin. If the director felt that with his treatment he could dish out a film which is well-paced and eminently watchable, he has only succeeded to an extent. ‘A… Aa’ could have done with better learning lessons in this regard, one feels!

Film Name : A… Aa
Cast : Nithiin, Samantha, Anupama Parameshwaran, Naresh and Nadhia
Direction : Trivikram Srinivas
Genre : Romance-drama
Likes : Performances of Samantha, Rao Ramesh and Naresh
Dislikes : Oft-repeated story

By K Naresh Kumar​