Kaavya’s diary is a poor remake of the rental circuit Hollywood hit “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”. Director Karuna Prakash loses the grip in the second half and reduces a good movie to a big bore. The only saving grace is Chaarmee . She plays the role that Rebecca De Mornay played in the English original.

What is it about : It is about Pooja (Manjula) who exposes a sexually abusive gynecologist – Dr Kiran (played by real life doctor Bharath Reddy). Unable to bear the fallout of a vicious media campaign the doctor commits suicide. His wife Kaavya (Chaarmee) on seeing this suffers a fatal miscarriage and then decides to wreak vengeance on Pooja. To this end she enters their house as their Nanny and sets about destroying their home and happiness. A devious Kaavya starts eliminating the key people in the house. Her first target is the house gardener (Satyam Rajesh). And then it is Abhi (Pooja’s brother-in-law) who gets bumped off in a well planned road mishap by Kaavya. And then Kaavya targets Pooja’s husband and tries to win him over. She breast-feeds Pooja’s baby and starts imagining that it is her own son. And logically she starts believing that Pooja is the outsider and that she is the one who is actually the lady of the house. How Pooja stops a psychotic Kaavya forms the rest of the film?

What is Good: Chaarme’a acting is the sole plus point in the film. As a revenge-seeking nanny she delivers a taut and gripping performance. Manu Ramesh’s music for the songs is melodious. The first half of the movie is well scripted and moves at a fairly rapid pace. The suspense too is well maintained. The unfolding of Chaarme’s villainy is done neatly. The glass house scene in which Pooja’s friend is killed is well executed.

What is bad: The second half drags. Tollywood technicians should be careful when they get “inspired” by Hollywood hits and decide to remake them. The first thing they should watch out for is the length of the film. English movies are usually of 90 minutes duration. When you try stretching that to over 2 hours, the first thing you risk is losing the pace and the next thing you risk is diluting the impact. Kaavya’s dairy suffers from both. Next the casting of Manjula was a big mistake. Annabella Sciorra plays the role in the English original and she is a seasoned artist with many movies to her credit. Manjula on the other hand does not have that kind of experience, and it shows. In a way she lets the film down.

Me Thinks: Watch it if you have not seen the English original. Otherwise wait for the DVD.

Tailpiece: Is there such a paucity of good scripts in Tollywood that we have to resort to remaking video-circuit Hollywood hits from the early 1990s? And this coming from a person who is associated with one of the biggest production houses in South India!