The debate over the difference between Love and Attraction has often plagued us. We interpret them in our own ways and most of the time we hit a dead-end. If someone does come up with a conclusion, it is bound to be incomplete and leaves enough scope for improvisation. Siva Nageswara Rao’s latest offering “Ninnu Kalisaka” tries to fiddle with the concept of love and attraction. It’s the story of two couples who discover love and friendship under unusual circumstances. Produced by Ramoji Rao, the film also introduces Santosh, Priya, Deepa and Chaitanya to Tollywood.

What is it about : The film stars Santosh as Abhiram, a software professional with a good sense of humour. He’s sent to US for an onsite project and there he meets his colleague, Bindu (Pia). Slowly they become good friends and both of them think that they might be in love. However, they don’t confess their love to each other, the reason being Abhiram is in love with Deepthi (Deepa) and Bindu with Chandu (Chaitanya). Incidentally, back in India, Deepthi and Chandu meet each other and they start enjoying their new found friendship. Will these two couples discover their true love? How do they cope up with their turbulent relationships? That forms the rest of the story.

What is Good: All the new actors and actresses have shown great amount of maturity and confidence in their debut film. The onscreen chemistry between Santosh Samrat and Pia stands out and the duo manage to come up with sparkling performance in few scenes. Chaitanya’s role as a Theatre enthusiast is well written and performs well those drama sequences. He’s pretty good in dancing too. Deepa is alright and exudes confidence in her role. The songs are good especially “Maunam Manasulona” sung by SPB.

What is bad: The film has too many subplots which hamper the pace of the film. Although, there are plenty of comedians in the film, their track is just not funny enough to evoke laughter. To narrate two love stories set in different locations demands a gripping screenplay and that’s exactly where things go wrong with this film. Flip flopping between two love stories; the film never lets you to settle down to enjoy a love story. The storyline involving the families of these couples is poorly written and doesn’t add any value to the film.

Technical Department: Dialogues by Lakshmi Bhupal are pretty good and some will have you in splits. Cinematography by B.L.Sanjay is alright. Editing by Gowtham Raju could have been better. Storyline by Jai Kiran is good although there is nothing new about it. Sunil Kashyap’s music is pleasant. Siva Nageswara Rao who handles the screenplay and direction of the movie does an average job. There’s hardly any conflict between the couples. Siva Nageswara Rao could have taken more care in the narration of the film and ensure that the audience connects to them.

Bottomline: “Ninnu Kalisaka” takes an easy route and concludes that the current generation is materialistic and too confused to make the right decision. With so many love stories these days, the director couldn’t come up with a novel narration and conclusion to make this film interesting. There are few goofups here and there in the movie too. Although one of the couples is supposed to travel to the US, the actual shooting of the film was done in Singapore. Further there seems to be a lack to authenticity in the sets designed for the film. The presence of “Meru”/ “Radio Cabs” in an US Airport might leave you confused! Even the much talked about sequence of recreating “Titanic” without the ship and water fails to make an impact. The film could have been atleast 15 minutes shorter. Overall, a poor execution of a routine script with an unexpected twist makes sure that there’s nothing new or original about this film.

Tailpiece: Siva Nageswara Rao did a special role in the film as Love Guru, Prem Baba. Jagapathi Babu also makes a special appearance in this film.