Nee Jathaleka Review

Every job has some occupational hazards. And for a movie reviewer, it is films like this. Nee Jatha Leka makes you wonder what terrible sins you might have committed in your past life to end up in that theatre. And you might even begin praying God for forgiveness regardless of how ardent an atheist you are.

Akhil (Naga Shourya) is a model who thinks with the body part that is not well-known for its thinking capabilities. That is evident from how he goes to a party and tries to kiss a complete stranger Shirley (Parul Gulati) and gets slapped. It turns out that Shirley is the girlfriend of his best friend Karthik, and Akhil doesn't know that. Not that he would have behaved any different had he known, anyway.

Karthik knows that the plot doesn't want him around and dutifully flies abroad, asking his virtuous friend Akhil to meet his girlfriend regularly. And then Akhil blackmails Shirley to pretend she's his girlfriend around Swapna (Sarayu), his ex-girlfriend, to make the latter jealous, threatening Shirley that he'll otherwise tell Karthik that he kissed his girlfriend.

Wait. Doesn't that get his behind kicked first? But why would he have been anywhere around Lawrence Dasari (the director of this masterpiece) if he had the cognitive ability to figure that out? So Shirley has no choice but to agree. Of course, she can call her boyfriend and explain what happened, but that would deprive us of an opportunity to witness the genius of the rest of the plot.

And what unfolds is worse than the ten plagues of Egypt put together. It's as if the director is trying to outdo himself in idiocy with each subsequent scene. Most people cannot come up with such tripe even if they deliberately try to.

Nee Jatha Leka is an assault on all the senses. The songs that pop out for no reason would have been a distraction in a different movie but here they come as a welcome relief, not because they are remarkable but because you can be spared from the pathetic dialogues for at least five minutes. And the visuals reflect the creative integrity of the film.

This movie can be included in film schools as syllabus for a course on how not to act. But we can blame the actors for that only if they had a damn clue of what the film was about. Naga Shourya has to pretend for the rest of his life that this never happened and was only a bad dream. Parul Gulati looks passionate, and it is her sheer misfortune to be a part of something like this. The other actors hopefully had a good time joking about the film during the shooting breaks.

Watch this one if you are feeling terribly guilty about something and want to punish yourself. It works.