'Love Reddy' movie review: Yet another lopsided love story

'Love Reddy' movie review: Yet another lopsided love story

Prince Henry’s music is one of the few bright spots in this bloated and misguided romantic drama.
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Narayan meets Divya on one of his daily bus commutes and instantly falls for her. He then does everything in his capacity to impress her and woo her, hoping for some reciprocation. Some moments give him hope; others leave him in despair. A friend dissuades him in his pursuit, while others encourage him to try harder—and Narayan does everything to figure out whether or not Divya reciprocates, except for one.

He never goes and asks her directly. Sure, Narayan is nervous like any other lover, but there is nothing really in his way from proposing to her, yet he doesn’t. Why? Because Love Reddy is the kind of film that entirely hinges on this lack of communication.

Directed by Smaran Reddy, this is yet another addition to the list of films where a woman remains on the fringes of a narrative as a mystery to be decoded instead of a character to be explored and understood. Sure, there is a larger statement to be made about class barrier and patriarchy, but at what cost?

After they strike a friendship, Narayan (Anjan Ramachendra) and Divya (Shravani) share plenty of conversations and warm moments on a regular basis. Yet, we are never sure whether Divya loves Narayan; is it all a figment of his imagination? The filmmaker tailors the film around Narayan for too long to keep us rooting for him. Eventually, we see him under a full arc of confusion, heartbreak and denial, reaching a point where Narayan appears psychotic not just to his family members but to the audience as well, only to be told that we were wrong about him.

The core message of the film also feels unearnest because of all of the regressive humour doled out to us earlier. The film literally begins with a scene where the protagonist walks out on a prospective bride because of her skin colour. In one of the many peripheral bad guy scenes in the film, two lecherous thugs accidentally peck each other, and it’s a moment of homophobic revulsion for them.

And then, of course, there’s the running track with Sweety (Jyothi Madan), another woman Narayan has rejected because of her looks. Although she is initially treated as a clingy lover girl for easy laughs, Sweety eventually earns your sympathy.

Even though she keeps pleading with Narayan to love her back, much to his annoyance, you see a self-assured woman who, despite all the humiliation and prejudice, knows what she wants and goes for it. And yet, you never feel assured if the director sees her just as sympathetically as he does with the male protagonist.

Not that Love Reddy is devoid of any promising moments. Early on in the film, there is a nice tracking shot capturing Narayan’s family members and their chaotic excitement about him finally getting married.

Further, the way the director captures the moments at Narayan’s household—his family members having meals together and participating together in chores—there is an endearing feeling to these simple, mundane interactions between the people, which only makes Narayan and his pursuit seem all the more delusional.

The closest the film comes to realising its potential is during the title song sequence, where the director captures our protagonist’s sad clown energy in a playful manner. As Narayan goes about his life in a lifeless manner, he is accompanied by a band of little people musicians who are singing about his tragic fate. In another surprising moment, Narayan’s brother Arun succumbs to his selfishness and sacrifices his brother’s happiness for his own.

Even at the interval point, there is a hilarious twist from an objective view—our hero sacrifices his everything for a comment made by Divya that was meant as a joke. In any other film, these could have made for threads of a brutal dark comedy about human depravity and desperation; only, Love Reddy is not that film.

But then again, it desperately sees more virtue in wanting to be a heavier film with a social statement without possessing the acumen for it. When we are introduced to Divya’s outrageously evil father, it borderline feels farcical and out of place, even though NT Ramaswamy is clearly having a ball playing this character.

Love Reddy doesn’t score many brownie points for its technical aspects either. The cinematography is dull and doesn’t add anything to the narrative.

The same goes for the lacklustre production design. However, Prince Henry’s dramatic, soaring background score definitely elevates many moments in the film, lending it a grandeur that it otherwise lacks. Debutant Anjan Ramachendra is limited, and his character’s intensity only underlines his flaws as an actor; this part needed an actor more uninhibited in his energy, and Anjan comes up short.

Shravani is passable in comparison, but barring the final act, she doesn’t get much to do, considering how the writer treats her as an outsider in her own story. Everything remotely good about Love Reddy is undone by its use of the oldest trick in the Telugu cinema book—never question a man’s faith in his romantic instincts and save place for a woman’s true feelings only in the final act. No, thank you.

Love Reddy

Cast: Anjan Ramachendra, Shravani Krishnaveni, Jyothi Madan, Ganesh DS, NT Ramaswamy

Director: Smaran Reddy

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