Nee Premakai Review

When a movie is 'inspired' by an old movie, comparisons are inevitable. Katha, the original movie from which Nee Premakai has borrowed heavily as far as the story is concerned, had a certain charm to it. With sterling performances from Naseeruddin Shah and Faroukh Sheikh, even the anti-hero was lovable.

In Nee Premakai, Srinivas (Vineet) is an almost irritatingly benevolent do-gooder, with all the conceivable clichés associated with good Samaritans. However, the only person he cares about, Anjali (Laya), seems to make it a hobby to misunderstand and misinterpret all his overtures. Then there is Prabhu (Abbas), whose charm wins over everyone, be it his boss or prospective fathers-in-law.

What follows is a rehash of umpteen movies. The hero is a born loser who goes out of his way to help other people but slaps the heroine's father, of all the people in the world. And the antihero, parasitic enough to give a leech a complex, does nothing but live on his friend's money, court a girl the friend loves, and lap up the praise that should rightfully have gone to the friend.

And then there is the heroine who for some reason seems highly attached to her backyard and manages to find that elusive balance as far as dressing is concerned. Every person who catches sight of her through a certain 'blessed' window seems to be completely bowled over by this village belle plumb in the middle of Hyderabad.

Srinivas is misunderstood, abused both verbally and physically, and cheated. With nothing heroic to his credit except numerous anonymously rendered good deeds (which the anti-hero Prabhu conveniently takes credit for), this sorry excuse for a hero does not incite the slightest pity. Contrived situations, innumerable coincidences and inexplicable behavioral tendencies all lead to one of those group-photo endings. There is a feeling of déjà vu all through - and that is ironically the only redemption of this flick, since anything original is very amateurishly rendered.

There is not a single saving grace, as the technical aspects are deplorable, too. The music is mediocre at best. The parallel comedy track sticks out like a sore thumb and might as well be from a different movie. Except for getting a few perfunctory laughs from the audience, the humor definitely does not do enough to rescue the movie. The actors are well chosen and fit right into the roles, but with such implausible characters, this may not exactly be a compliment. The words that come to the mind are: "Strictly time-pass!"