Release date: 14 DEC 2012
		123telugu.com Rating : 3/5
		Director : Gautham Menon
		Producer :C. Kalyan
		Music Director : Ilaiyaraaja
		Starring : Nani,Samantha

Gautham Menon’s ‘Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu’ has released today across the world. The movie has Samantha and Nani in the lead roles and maestro Ilayaraja has composed the music. The Telugu version of the film has been produced by C. Kalyan. With Gautham Menon and Samantha in the project, expectations are naturally high. So let us see how the movie is.

Story :

The romantic lives of two people – Varun (Nani) and Nithya (Samantha), are chronicled in this film from their school days until their adult lives. They fall in love multiple times and keep breaking up over minor issues. But deep down, they are so madly in love with each other that they keep giving themselves another chance.

The story of YVM traces these breakups and patch-ups. Career, family obligations, selfishness, ego and other human emotions play their part in shaping up this journey. Towards the very end, Varun and Nithya are faced with the prospect of going their separate ways permanently.

What they decide to do at this point is what ‘Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu’ is all about.

Plus Points :

Samantha is the real star of the movie and without her, this film will not work. She is simply gorgeous. What is surprising is her ability to portray three different stages of her life so convincingly. She is cute as a school student, attractive as a college girl and quite vulnerable as the social worker. Her performance in the dying stages of the movie is simply superb.

Nani has come up with a realistic and convincing performance in the movie. But he keeps getting overshadowed by Samantha. More than a glamorous actor, Nani is a good performer and this film proves it again.

Krishnudu has done a good job and his witty one liners liven up the proceedings to a certain extent. There are a few warmly romantic moments in the film, especially in the first 30 minutes or so.

Ilayaraja’s background score and songs give the film a very romantic mood.

Minus Points :

The biggest issue with this movie is the extremely slow pace. ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ also had a slow pace but it wasn’t this slow. Excessively long breakup scenes through out the film and the bad dialogues written for those episodes spoil the flavour. Except for the first 30 minutes, the first half tends to drag a lot. Even in the second half, a few scenes are good but the story continues to be in limbo for most of the time.

During such emotional confrontations, the expression on the faces of the actors are very critical to draw the viewers into the drama. Despite having two very good actors in the fray, Gautha Menon has used long shots for these scenes. As a result, we end up seeing two people arguing while walking to and fro. We miss the emotions. This is very evident during the interval block.

Placement of the songs could have been a lot better. One gets the feeling that songs are coming in way too frequently in the movie.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is surprisingly mediocre for a Gautham Menon film. More specifically, it is the choice of camera placement that is bad. Editing is below par and many scenes are chopped off without any sequential flow.

Gautham Menon has succeeded in showcasing Samantha extremely beautifully. But as a director, he just scores average marks with this film. A tight screenplay and better dialogues would have helped the film a lot.

Verdict :

This movie is not a patch on Gautham Menon’s ‘Ye Maaya Chesave’, so don’t go expecting a similar flick. If you are deeply in love, you may find ‘Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu’ to be an OK flick. But for regular movie goers, the film is too slow to offer any real entertainment. Samantha’s gorgeous looks and brilliant performance are assets for the movie. But is it enough to save the film at the Box Office? That needs to be seen.

123telugu.com Rating – 3 /5

Reviewed by Mahesh S Koneru

Legend:

5 – Flawless
4 – Must Watch
3 – One Time Watch
2 – Wait for the DVD
1 – Stay Away