Ye maya chesave - it's magical

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , , | Posted on Tuesday, June 08, 2010

This is my first Telugu film reco for you guys. I was prejudiced that Telugu films are only about mass masala run of the mill movies, but I was wrong. I saw 'Ye maya chesave', the Telugu version of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. Let me confess that I can understand Telugu in bits and pieces only; I was able to get the complete meaning of the dialogues only when the main characters uttered some lines in English. Forget that, I don't even know exactly does the title mean! I just know, it means some thing similar to 'fascinate me' or some thing of that sort. But there was some thing magical about this movie which surely mesmerized me. Just finished watching it and cudnt resist myself from writing this post.


I wanted to watch this movie badly after reading the review by Hemanth here. A simple 'yes-no-yes' love story is made extremely believable and adorable by Gautam Menon. Hemanth had said, Naga Chaitanya is unlike the other Telugu star sons who are miles ahead when it comes to the screen presence, dancing, stunts and other heroic mannerisms. I totally agree with that. This guy worked for me in this movie, because he does not look like a star! He is 'the perfect' boy next door. He is not great when it comes to acting, but a good director like Gautam Menon can brush his weaker virtues under the carpet. I mean I cudnt think of any hero who could do the role of boy next door so convincingly. Portraying Karthik who is 22 year old mechanical engineer and an aspiring film director - he is not the bravest character who can do any thing for his love, at the same time we get to see his  foolhardy traits play peekaboo throughout the movie. He hides inside his house when heroine's parents come to his parents smelling some fishy things happening between Karthik and their daughter. He sheepishly and helplessly sits in the church when his love is about to get married to another guy. He looks coward in those moments. At the same time, this guy follows the heroine all the way till Alleppey just to say sorry! He is even capable of hitting heroine's brother when you least expect him to do it. Though he is just 1 film old and not a gifted actor, but Naga Chaitanya pulls it off!


Coming to Samantha playing Jessie in the movie, she seems to be better equipped with acting abilities than Naga Chaitanya. Samantha looks pleasant on screen and ravishingly beautiful when she is saree clad! How can a guy's heart not skip a beat when she wears all those green and orange sarees. Samantha is made to speak in husky voice in the entire movie (not sure if her voice is dubbed by some one). The way she checks if any known person is checking them out when she is talking to Karthik or the way she pulls back strands of her hair behind her ear lobe, I simply loved it. I was smitten by this lady! Just not the screen 'pleasance', her character is also carefully etched by Mr Menon. Her reaction to Karthik when he proposes her, her mood swings, her tantrums over his profession is all made to look so natural.

Camera work by Manoj Paramahamsa is awesome. The best scene for me is when Jessie calls off the relationship with Karthik in the night near the compound of their house - the light and the shade playing on the faces of Jessie and Karthik and the hand held camera zooming in and out slowly during their entire conversation is amazing. Add some classic background score bits in this scene by ARR - this is my favorite scene in the movie. Talking about the music, few weeks back I had argued with a colleague that ARR's music is not so great in this movie. I eat my words now after watching this movie. I know ARR's music is slow poison, but this is one of the movies where I have liked music more after watching the movie. The frequent bits of violin and guitar being played in the background in many scenes is so apt, just adds to the mood of the scene. I do not remember any recent Indian movie, where the background music is used so effectively. Kudos to Menon for perceiving this and kudos to ARR for proving his brilliance yet again.

This movie is a refreshing tale about first love... Dont miss it.

PS: Now having seen this Telugu version, I am curious about how Simbu and Trisha would have played these roles in Tamil version. I also want to watch it for the sad ending in Tamil version of the movie.

Pic courtesy here

Comments (2)

Hmmm! Started watching Telugu movies!

@Sum,

Do watch this movie and let me know your responses..

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