Teenage pregnancy is a touchy subject that is mostly frowned upon and seen as a taboo in India. Likewise, society is yet to openly accept and embrace the concept of love and love marriage. In Naduve Antaravirali, director Raveen Kumara has tried to explore these two subjects.
The plot revolves around Sanjay (Prakhyat Paramesh) and Nithya (Aishani Shetty), who are college mates belonging to upper middleclass families. Like every teen love story ever, the duo first hang out with friends, chat for hours, fall in love, sneak out of home and go on night outs. All hell breaks loose when their respective families come to know the truth. Obviously, parents of both the teens are against their love story. What begins as a harmless love story turns out to be a huge problem for the couple. How they deal with all this, with a huge responsibility looming large, paves the way to an emotion-filled climax that takes the audience by surprise.
Naduve Antaravirali is the remake of Tamil film Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer and the team has managed to neatly copy paste the original film entirely. While the story is borrowed, what lifts the film is the excellent acting.
The director deserves appreciation for taking the road less travelled. Though a remake, Raveen has done well and proved that he is here to stay. He has beautifully captured college life, friendships, family life, romance and the resulting tragedy. However, some amount of creativity and local inputs could have elevated the script further.
Debutant Prakhyat is spontaneous, but he has a long way to go. He may look the part, but the spark is missing. Aishani, who has acted with several biggies already, has, after years, returned to make a mark in another meaningful film. She plays the vulnerable and the emotionally fickle college girl’s role well. The chemistry between the lead actors could have been shown better. Comedy star Chikkanna’s comic scenes fall flat and the dialogues seem weak.
The songs have been chartbusters for quite a while. Music director Manikanth Kadri has beautifully enhanced the mood of the sequences through his music.
The entire film seems to hinge on that climax scene. Other than that, the film is just another tale of infatuation that goes awry after the initial attraction wears out.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.