The last of the big films of Summer released today and boy! What a cool and effortless film Trivikram has made with simplicity and earnestness. Blessed with a terrific starcast, writer-director Trivikram has chosen a familiar path of Bava-Maradelu (similar to “Atharintiki Daaredi”) to make a simple story that tugs at your hearts with a breath of summer-cool air. For Telangana star Nitin, this is going to be another feather in the cap that’s worth the cost and effort it took get minted as a Trivikram hero. For Samantha, the range of summer releases gets an icing on the cake with the role of Anasuya Ramalingam which will go down as one of her best performances.
Story:
A love story between two characters Anasuya Ramalingam (Samantha) and Aanand Vihari (Nitin) from two different worlds in wealth and values, “A.Aa” is all about connecting with the people who helped you but you chose to walk out on them. Anasuya’s mother is a Tiger Mom who raises Samantha with an iron fist, Naresh is the liberal dad who loosens the grip. In one of her depressing bouts from boorish parenting, Samantha attempts suicide but is surreptitiously packed off by Naresh to an Andhra village en route which she finds the man of her life Aanand Vihari. And life takes a beautiful turn with some twists and surprises. A range of interesting characters and flashbacks greet you before a decent climax and a happy ending hits you.
Treatment, dialogues, screenplay and direction:
It is one of those no-baggage films that Trivikram’s craftsmanship in dialogues, screenplay and directing elevates to a highly watchable category. Without temptations to over-complicate the plot or over-project stardom of the hero and the heroine, Trivikram looks at ease with himself as was his wont in the early series of films like “Nuvve Nuvve” etc. in weaving a mesmerizing narrative without frills and violence and villainy that you don’t see in everyday life. 154 minutes of a heartwarming narration is what you see in which each character gets their moment of sunshine on screen. Though the story is not unique, it has an uncanny resemblance to an old film called “Meena” directed by Vijay Nirmala (and based on Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani’s novel) where most of the scenes find a reprise in Tivikram’s celluloid. There are also some scenes and characters that mirror the sequences from an early Bapu-Ramana film (“Bangaru Pichhuka” and “Pelli Koduku”) but the total packaging of emotions in the film gets quite a handful of boquets. But for this, the film passes off as a good improvisation attempt which is Trivikram’s strength and style. He always bases his characters on time-tested storylines and characterisations – there is a Rama and a Seetha, and there is a Soorpanakha and a Ravana – and that lends lot of depth to characters when they burn on the screen with the wordsmith magic of Trivikram’s pen and megaphone. This film is testimony to what Trivikram can unleash on celluloid if you don’t mess with his freedom of expression and treatment instead of saddling him with demands of creating “mega stars” out of “stars”. The lines pulsate with some of the old charms of Trivkiram that encapsulate a wisdom of a lifetime drawn from scriptures that nobody reads today. Some of the best lines are:
“Mounamgaa unte Muni antaaru anukonna. Mogudu anesaru.” (Naresh).
“Prathi vaadu vachinappudallaa Time Vachindi anukontaadu. Time telustundi ante.” (Nitin)
“Naa pani ki payment untundi. Kaani peru undadu.” (Nitin)
“Durga devi ni poojistaam kaani durga devi vaahanam puli ni poojincham.” (Srinivas Reddy)
“Padellu paatu pade pade gurthu pettumovadaaniki idi Cinema Paata kaadu. Velam Paata.” (Nadiya)
Screenplay is a bit rusty because the frequent use of flashback technique for most scenes including comedy scenes is a bit tedious to watch nowadays with most Tollywood directors and Trivikram disappoints there. In the desire to appear different, too many flashbacks make it seem like you are dumbing it down for the masses but they create lags in narration and inevitably lengthen the duration. Had Trivikram given free hand to a dispassionate editor, the film’s length could have got cut by 20 minutes. Because the story is straightforward, he introduces a few more characters that bring life to the narration unlike the original story of “Meena”. In doing so, he abandons the easy path of making cardboard villains who chop off heads like coconuts or sport beards and six-packs. There are no complicated plots, even the interval scene looks like a block that used to come in the golden era musicals – unhurried and without melodrama. No expensive foreign locations but the few songs and duets actually move the story forward and get you the glimpses of what sylvan surroundings are all about. That scene where the Nitin asks Samantha to close her eyes and her ears and gives a sensual description of village life is itself a paisa vasool scene. Another out-of-comfort highlight is to have Rao Ramesh as the soft villain who reminds you of his legendary father Rao Gopal Rao in films like “Mutyala Muggu” etc. The characterization of everybody is worth mentioning and in distributing the one-liners between all of them (the above is just a glimpse), director Trivikram proves why he is the maestro on coinages. But the real surprise is to keep heavyweights like Brahmanandam and Rajendra Prasad out of the plot and to enact comedy which is matter-of-fact than look contrived. The Pellu choopulu scene with Chamak Chandra reminds you of the “Swamy Nadi ki Poleda scene” and the climax appears a leaf out of “Atharintiki Daaredi” but that is not a serious complaint as long as you enjoy the scenes.
Music and BGM by Mickey J Meyer is apt for the film and the fact that there are no item songs or hero songs makes the song a visual treat that do not hamper the narration. Cinematography by Natti is classy and uses the right mix of close-ups and long-shots basis what the director wants.
Performances:
Nitin Reddy must be complimented for selecting a good script that puts his stardom in second fiddle. That the original plot was turned down by Naga Chaitanya for lack of heroism and stardom-elevation is a blessing in disguise for the Telangana Superstar. Any actor who doesn’t have a Trivikram in his DVD list is a loser in today’s generation because of the range of sensibilities that he brings to the table. He carries his role with minimal effort but makes good impact. Samantha gets her career-defining role even if highly predictable at times. Rao Ramesh gets the best punchlines in the last. Naresh shines a lot after a long gap with a dignified performance. Ananya and Anupama Parameswaran get a noticeable presence with their roles. The “Journey” girl is deglamorized in most parts but for a few minutes which proves she can go places if her earlier films which got stalled for release are cleared. Nadiya’s body language and demeanor is a carveout of her performance in “AD” but criticism aside, it goes to the credit of Trivikram that he managed to get a convincing performance yet again from the aging Diva. In the old days, directors like Bapu, Viswanath and K Raghavendra Rao used to extract great performances time and again from the same artists and in that sense, Trivikram also aces up. After a long time, the titles come after 23 minutes of run time and amply justify the letters A..Aa where each crew members are highlighted for the two letters. The title itself is a good one in an era where we have to issue censor certificates with unprouncables. A good family entertainer, with rendition of timeless values of family bonds and affections. Good to see the director get his mojo back.
Rating: 3.25/5
