Tedious and testing

As far as matters of the heart go, it is said that it is better to be loved than to love. This is the core funda behind the making of the Srinu Vaitla- directed movie ‘Mister’ starring Varun Tej who has Heebah Patel and Lavanya Tripathi wanting him to be their lover.

Basing on this wafer-thin plot, Vaitla who is having a tough time at the box office gets going with all that he can manage. He places his 160-minute film amidst foreign locales, tourism-style shooting, adds an unconvincing historical reference to a mythical state (tracing its lineage to Krishnadevaraya) and includes comedy and monotonous SUV chases all through the film.

With the flick’s running time itself a tad too long, Vaitla does all that to tie himself in knots and lend a jerky pace to the proceedings from the time it unspools in Spain. Having replaced Rayalaseema lingo with a new Kannada-speaking crowd, the director allows the story to run riot with the first hour, ending up as a terribly shoddy piece of work, to say the least.

Interconnecting the pastoral ambience of India with the ultra glam world of Spain, all that Vaitla can manage is a tired formula flick, which reminds the viewers of many such films which have come over the last two decades in Telugu cinema.

Varun Tej is hemmed into the mould of an ultra-macho hero, an ideal son and a loving grandson to go along, who can never be vanquished, a trend which has continued for decades now. He looks earnest though, even when the screenplay lets him down with predictable twists and turns, wading through a crazy combo of action and ridiculous melodrama.

The damsels in distress, who are firmly stuck in the heroine image of the late ‘60s, are mere caricatures and end up as appendages, the standard treatment reserved for them in Telugu cinema, by and large. While Heebah has a longer screen presence, playing the modern girl, Lavanya, in spite of a shorter role lends her charm well, essaying a character of royal lineage.

Having delivered a dud ‘Loafer’ directed by Puri Jagannadh nearly a year-and-a-half ago, Varun must be hoping the recent release works for him. It must be a miracle, if it happens.

Film Name : Mister

Cast : Varun Tej, Lavanya Tripathi, Heebah Patel
Direction : Srinu Vaitla
Genre : Romantic comedy
Likes : Varun Tej’s heroics
Dislikes : Too many parallel tracks

By K Naresh Kumar