Gautham Menon’s new film ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ starring Naga Chaitanya is not only a love story par excellence but also puts every other film with a love story to shame! Truth be told, most of the love stories made these days are so cheesy and predictable that it’s hard to find the true essence of love in such films. This is exactly what Gautham Menon tries to narrate in his film. His latest film ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ tries to find out what love is and how does love evolve from a spark in the heart to life itself. The film is Naga Chaitanya’s second, after he made his debut in ‘Josh’ which was released in 2009. Samantha made her debut in Telugu in this film. ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ narrates a love story between a couple who come from different backgrounds and how they try to find solace in each other’s company.

What is it about : Naga Chaitantya stars as Karthik, a 22 year old Mechanical Engineering graduate who wants to be a film maker. With the help of his friend, Krishnudu, who is an actor, he gets introduced to a prominent director (Puri Jagannadh) and begins his career as an assistant director under him. One day, his heart skips a beat when he sees a girl on the road and within no time he realizes that both of them live in the same building. He comes to know that she’s a Malayalee Christian named Jessie (Samantha) and that she’s 24 years old. He blindly falls in love with her and one fine day proposes to her. Does Jessie accept Karthik’s love? How do the differences in their culture, religion and age affect their lives? This forms the basis of this poignantly written and beautifully narrated love story.

What is Good: The biggest strength of the film is Gautham Menon’s script and the way he has written the characterization of the lead actors. On one hand, we have Karthik who’s blindly and passionately in love with Jessi and on the other hand, is Jessi, who is both impulsive and compulsive at the same time. This characterization not only makes her strong but also she appears to be confused most of the times. And from this confusion arises unpredictability which almost always engulfs Karthik’s life. Gautham Menon's casting for the film is impeccable. There’s a strong Malayalam flavour in the film which is there for a good reason and he makes sure each and every aspect of the film is authentic. Of the star cast, Naga Chaitanya delivers an incredible performance in his role as Karthik. He’s not too flamboyant and most of the time he underplays his role but he knows that he’s passionately in love with Jessi. It’s difficult to find any similarity between Chaitanya’s performance in ‘Josh’ and ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ and what’s even harder to believe is that there has hardly been five months of gap between the two. A big thumbs up to Naga Chaitanya, he has certainly become more versatile, be it his expressions or adding a lot of soul when he acts. The best kept secret of the film, however, is Samantha. She’s extremely lucky to have bagged this role, because such roles come once in a lifetime. She totally justifies her role and her characterization in the film makes a great first impression. What is even more remarkable in her characterization is her portrayal of mood swings. She’s too confused; she loves Kathik yet doesn’t want to be with him and Samantha gets into the skin of this role with great ease. The chemistry between Chaitanya and Samantha is sizzling and the duo makes a great onscreen couple. Krishnudu makes his presence felt; his innocence and comic timing bring the house down.

What is bad: Love stories are such that they don’t strike a chord with everyone. Probably, it’s the same case with this film as well. For some it would be like a chapter of their own lives and for others a figment of imagination which wouldn’t concern them in anyway. The film itself slightly drags in the second half which sort of takes away the overwhelming charm which the film achieves during the budding romance. Some part of the film is set in Kerala and to retain the authenticity, people speak in Malayalam and we have Telugu subtitles which are at times difficult to follow. On the whole, if you are someone, who likes big bang entertainment, item songs, cheesy romance, two giga sized families, flashbacks set in palatial houses, grand sets, rip roaring comedy, sumos and chases – basically every cliché which makes our films so entertaining, then ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ might disappoint you.

Technical Departments: ‘Ye Maya Chesave’ is also a visual delight thanks to more than impressive work in almost all technical departments. A.R.Rahman’s music is haunting; each and every single tune in the film compliments the story. It’s easily one of his best works in recent few years. Manoj Paramahamsa’s cinematography is beautiful; it’s almost sheer poetry at times. Manoj also effectively captures the moods and the intensity of the lead actors in the close up shots. Editing by Anthony is good and it could have been slightly better in the second half. Dialogues by Anuradha are fantastic and there are just too many clever lines in the film. Gautham Menon’s story and direction in this film needs to be a bible of sorts for every aspiring film maker. Imagine narrating a 160 minutes film with just 2 characters and it’s such a humongous task in itself. He has easily created one of the best love stories we have seen in years and he’s the main reason if we end up falling in love with Karthik and Jessie.

Bottomline: The best thing about the film is, it knows that it’s narrating the love story of two mature adults. All that matters is how they communicate, their conversations, their quarrels, their mood swings. And such things could happen anywhere, anytime. This brings us to the most important question, “Can love be defined in words?” I don’t think that’s possible. Let this be one of those rare films, where your experience while watching the film is more important than what others have to say. It deserves at least that amount of respect. If this is the kind of love stories we get to see in near future, then forget about dumb entertainers, love stories would be back in vogue! Words apart, go watch the film, fall in love all over again! Two big thumbs up to the film. Who knew that love stories could be so real and intelligent in contemporary cinema!

P.S: This is a rare film which makes single men and women jealous and at least coax them to search for their respective ‘Karthik’s and ‘Jessies’!