Chandamama Review

The trick to liking Chandamama is going in with no expectations. Too bad you already clicked on this link.

There are other tricks to liking Chandamama, too. Those, however, are played by Krishna Vamsi. They are good dialogues, good emoting and a good screenplay. It's surprising what he manages in a show-string budget by merely sticking to basics.

Chandamama is a low-cholesterol comedy, and that's about the only thing it takes seriously. So nobody gets into any really serious trouble, there is no emotional turmoil, and the director doesn't feel the need to justify his film with a heavy-duty plot. With the probable exception of Krishna Vamsi's almost pathological need to make his songs veer dangerously on the border between U/A and A, there's almost nothing that can make you lose your hard-earned composure.

Ranga Rao (Nagababu) is a rich patriarch of a village that idolizes him for his uprightness. When his daughter Mahalakshmi (Kajal) comes back after finishing her studies, he gets her engaged to the docile but scrupulous Dorababu (Siva Balaji), son of the not-so-scrupulous Ramalingeswara Rao (Ahuti Prasad), another rich landlord in the village.

However Mahalakshmi confides in Dorababu that she was in love with Kishore (Navdeep) when she was studying in the city, that he cheated her, and that she is in no frame of mind to get married. She requests him to get the marriage cancelled somehow.

While a lesser movie could have made this a traumatic triangle, Vamsi prefers to give you what you paid for - happiness. He just gets Dorababu another ladylove - Mahalakshmi's cousin Rani (Sindhu Menon). Dorababu also goes to the city to hunt for Kishore, realizes that it was just a misunderstanding, and reunites the couple. Thereon, it is about how the two pairs of lovebirds manage to get married.

With a little more effort, Chandamama could have been in the superhit league - the writing is there, the emoting is there. Navdeep is brilliant, Sindhu Menon is a surprise revelation, and Ahuti Prasad has people waiting for him to get on screen with his dialogue delivery. The film has you modulating between giggling and guffawing for a good part of its running, and for all the three actors above, these are roles that will stand out.

While Kajal is sprightly, she has some way to go as an actor. As does Siva Balaji. Nagababu is a seasoned actor, and predictably lends dignity to the character. The music by Radhakrishnan (of Anand and Godavari) is likely to do well. If there's one thing jarring about the film, however, it's how physical Ranga Rao gets with his daughter Mahalakshmi in showering affection. In the highest traditions of rural India, fathers do not even touch their daughters once they cross about 10.

Chandamama comes with a minimum guarantee, and is one of the few watchable Telugu films out there as we write this.