Love with a twist

Naa Ishtam CAST: Rana, Genelia, Harshavardhan Rane, Subbaraju, Ali, Ahuti Prasad, Brahmanandam DIRECTOR: Prakash Tholeti RATING: ★★

The film follows the fortunes of a young man (Rana), who saves an innocent girl (Genelia) from committing suicide after her lover (Harshavardhan) has deserted her. He also spends a large sum of money to save her from a critical situation. And when he returns to the village, along with the girl, to retrieve his money, he finds that the groom she is being forced to marry is unsuitable. He then goes to Malaysia to help reunite her with her lover. Meanwhile, Rana falls in love with Genelia and the story takes a new twist.

After essaying a dark role in Nenu Na Rakshasi, GenX actor Rana

now has a role that's 'grey' in this new-age romantic comedy. But the wafer-thin plot and some contrived scenes, separating the lovers, could hamper its box-office run. With the idealistic protagonist being intrinsically predictable, a few directors are trying to break the stereotype by adding shades and nuances that keep the audience guessing, but not backing this up with a solid storyline. So the hero turns selfish and scheming to win his ladylove — everything is fair in love and war — but the audience cannot connect or empathise with a conniver since he is trying to drive a wedge between two lovers.

Debutant director Prakash Tholeti does not dwell too much on the hero’s good aspects and leaves the last 20 minutes of the film to effect a redemption, which is a gamble with the Telugu audiences.

The Rana-genelia pair does not really take off as their onscreen chemistry fails to sizzle.

Rana has to work on his dancing skills but impresses in the action sequences and in his attempts to speak a new dialect. Genelia's talent is wasted in a poorly etched role. Her reciprocation of Rana's advances looks contrived since he has used all the tricks in the book to keep her away from her lover, leaving her with little or no choice. There are a few comic moments and the cinematography is picturesque.

Rana plays a light-hearted role with élan and Genelia retains the innocence of her Bommarillu days. Ali and Brahmanandam raise a few laughs.