‘AAY’ is produced by GA2 Pictures. The Independence Day release is going to be streamed on Netflix in due course of time. If you are planning to watch it in theatres, check out our review:
Telugu Funda’s reveal of the basic plot:
Karthik, Subbu and Hari are childhood friends in a Godavari village. Karthik falls in love with Pallavi, the naive daughter of a caste-conscious, flustered man named Durga. While the girl reciprocates feelings of love, Karthik is shocked when she agrees to marry the man of her father’s choice. The rest of the film is about why Pallavi had to take the shocking decision, and whether Karthik wins her love.
Telugu Funda’s take on the performances:
Narne Nithiin of ‘MAD’ fame returns in a character that expects him to look like a silly billy and a timid lover at once. His demeanour is unsettling at the start; he should probably have worked more to imbibe the rural character. The somewhat confusing characterization also works against him. He comes into his own in the emotional scenes in the second half.
Between Rajkumar Kasireddy and Ankith Koyya, the former is way too funny. Nayan Sarika as Pallavi is decent. Mime Gopi and Vinod Kumar are seen as the dads, respectively, of Karthik and Pallavi. The latter is effective in the few scenes that he is seen in.
Telugu Funda’s take on the hits:
Debutant director Anji K Maniputhra proves his mettle in molding the serious scenes. The final 20-minute stretch is well-written and sharply executed. Without melodrama, without too much dialogue, without too much fuss, the film conveys a lot in the pre-climax and climax portions. What an ordinary dialogue writer would have taken three pages of lines, Anji conveys effectively the same in two lines. A scene involving two elders is superb.
The beats of the love story work when they are not romantic or comedic. It goes without saying that Anji’s strength lies in drama, not comedy.
Ram Miriyala’s music is enjoyable. The cinematography by Sameer Kalyani is tasteful.
Telugu Funda’s take on the misses:
‘AAY’ was advertised as another ‘Jathi Ratnalu’. Its Trailer cut was also aimed to make the audience believe that it is a silly comedy with loads of illogical but memorable takeaways. The film, to be frank, is an inferior comedy. If anything, too many jokes and situations are dated.
The slapstick comedy is of low quality. The writing is low-effort in the scenes involving the two clownish friends of the lead man.
This film is essentially a love story involving two families, two castes and two generations. The rest of the film is just a comedy track gone wrong.
Ajay Arasada’s background score is somewhat noisy. There was no need for too much sound in those comedy scenes.
Telugu Funda’s final word:
‘AAY’ is surprisingly the better one among the three straight Telugu releases this week. Give it a shot with low expectations.
Follow Telugu Funda on trending Social Media Platforms for more Cinema, OTT, Political, And Sports updates
