Preminchu Review

As Telugu films inch into a suffocating rut of clichés, mediocrity and banality, a fresh theme dealt with sensitivity comes as a breath of fresh air and offers hope for the future of filmmaking in Tollywood. Preminchu encompasses a message delivered with strength. It is also heartening to see a cast, especially the protagonist, doing full justice to the theme.

Preminchu revolves around the theme that blindness is not a curse but only a deformity. The blind protaganist proves through her indomitable will that the visually-challenged need not feel sorry, but should set aside their deformity and learn to lead a normal life.

Daughter of a superbazar owner Srinivasa Rao (Murali Mohan), Meera (Laya) is born blind, leading to a rift in the marriage of her parents. Her society-conscious mother Kousalya Devi (Lakshmi) refuses to bring her up and tells her husband to leave her in an orphanage. But the father loves his daughter too dearly to abide by his wife's meaningless wishes. And so they part ways.

Srinivasa Rao takes upon himself the task of raising Meera as any normal human being, and he succeeds in his attempts. His daughter becomes an embodiment of willpower, and her determination to excel in life and in her chosen profession without the least notion of being aware of her deformity is without peer. In her usual course of life, she meets Suresh (Saikiran) and they become friends. Soon their friendship blooms and they realize that they are in love with each other.

In a fortuitous turn of events, Suresh's aunt (who brings him up with loving care and admiration after Suresh's parents die when he was a boy) happens to be Meera's mother, Kousalya Devi. And when Kousalya Devi comes to know that Meera is a blind girl, she refuses to agree to the marriage.

A sensitive theme is dealt with such care that this movie is in the same league as the Sai Paranjpe classic Sparsh that deals with a similar subject. To cater to the commercial whiffs there are the regular doses of entertainment like the song and dance sequences and the run-of-the-mill comedy, but these are meant to lighten a serious theme and to make it look more like a regular commercial drama.

Laya as the blind girl steals the show with her acting prowess. Ever since her debut in Swayamvaram, she has been moving from strength to strength as a performing artiste. And in this film she is at her peak yet. She acts and emotes with such consummate ease as a blind girl that you fully imagine that she is actually one.

The others are, of course, supporting actors in a film that revolves around her. And they manage to essay their roles well. Of these, Saikiran looks good, and so do Murali Mohan and Lakshmi. An engagingly sensitive movie that would make you sit up, watch and empathize.