Majili

Majili is a coming of age romantic drama with Chaitanya and Samantha playing the leading roles. Shiva Nirvana of Ninnu Kori fame offers yet another matured take on love, heartbreak and the life after it. What is it about? Poorna (Naga Chaitanya) a wannabe cricketer falls in love with Anshu (Divyansha) a North Indian rich girl. The couple gets separated and the heartbroken Poorna leads his life like a loser. Sravani (Samantha) who admires Poorna marries him in spite of knowing about his bad habits and heartbreak. How Poorna gets over his past love and accepts Sravani as his life partner forms rest of the story. Performances: Naga Chaitanya gets an author backed role and he did his best as Poorna. He is particularly impressive in the second half where he is going through a heartbreak. Samantha enters the scene just before the intermission and steals the show with her spectacular performance. Divyansha is just fine. Rao Ramesh is impressive as Chay's father and Posani is his usual self as an annoying neighbor. The guy who played Chay's friend is very good. Subbaraju, Ravi Prakash, Atul Kulakarni and rest of the supporting cast are alright in their respective roles. Technicalities: Director Shiva Nirvana follows the similar template of love-heartbreak-redemption that he dealt with in his debut film. The director once again shows very good maturity in handling relations and sensitive issues. He has done a fabulous job in getting the emotional content right. Music by Gopi Sunder is good. A couple of songs are catchy. Thaman's background score is superb. Cinematography is decent. Dilaogues are very good in emotional scenes. Production values are good. Thumbs Up: Naga Chaitanya Samantha Emotional Second Half Thumbs Down: Slow Paced Lengthy First Half Analysis: Majili is a relatable story with effective dialogue. Many lovers get separated and shares their lives with someone else. What if someone who couldn't get over his past love gets married to another woman? Majili deals with this subject that takes ample time to showcase the past of the protagonist. First half is a mix of many things. It has Poorna's friends, goals, goons and a love story. It is all predictable as the plot was revealed in the promos itself. First half is alright but moves at a very leisure pace. The romance part also is very ordinary with random scenes. Things get interesting with the introduction of Samantha character. There is a nice little touch of showing the past of the protagonist from her point of view. She admires him and loves him unconditionally, but he couldn't get over his past. There is a twist thrown in for him to get over everything and realize the love of his wife. Although a bit cinematic, the last act in Majili is okay. The film's biggest problem is its slow pace and it remains to be on the slower side even in the second half. But what works in its favor is the well executed emotions and very good performances. Not just the lead pair, but also the supporting star cast does their job. A couple of songs are good, but a better audio album would have helped it reach another level. On a whole, Majili is a decent romantic drama that will appeal to the matured audience as well as the youth. The film gets dramatic and sloppy at times, but keeps its viewers interested with some well written scenes and dialogue. It has its share of shortcomings, but ends on a satisfactory note with Samantha and Chaitanya pulling it off with their unmistakable chemistry. Verdict: Emotional Majili!

Majili is one film which was being awaited all over since a very long time. The film has finally hit the screens today and let’s see how the film turns out to be. Story: Poorna(Chay) is a happy go lucky youth in Vizag who falls in love with Anju(Divyansha Kaushik) a rich naval officer’s daughter. As time passes by, Poorna’s local politics create a rift in the love story and breaks the couple apart. Moving ahead, Poorna marries Shravani(Samantha) but is still in the hangover of Anju and keeps Shravani away. How will the problems between the couple get resolved? What is that factor which changes everything? To know the answers, you need to watch the film on the big screen. Plus Points: To start things first, Majili is filled with some memorable performances which elevate the film nicely. Chay Akkineni is a revelation as he gives his career best performance. With this film, Chay proves that he is a director’s actor who molds himself according to the character. The way he showcases the pain with his serious emotions is the best part of the film. Chay is superlative and impresses you from the first scene itself. Samantha once again proves that it is not the length of the role but the depth of it to leave an impression. She, as Shravani, takes the film to another level in the second half. Be it her body language, dressing sense and sacrificing behavior, Sam showcases it all and wins many hearts. The second half is where the real action happens as superb family emotions take center stage. Even though Sam and Chay do not have many dialogues, the manner in which they carry the pain is showcased in a superb manner. Suhas, the new actor who played Chay’s friend is impressive. Debutante Divyansha Kaushik is impressive for her first film and has a good role in the first part. The supporting characters are quite strong. Rao Ramesh as Chay’s dad brings a lot of depth to the film. Posani was apt as Sam’s impatient dad. Minus Points: Even though the film has many feel good moments, the story is old and predictable. There is nothing novel and has a hangover of several Hindi films in the past. Yet another drawback is that the film is painfully slow at times and can get on the nerves for those who look for sheer entertainment. Director Shiva takes his own time to build the story in the first half and because of this the film starts on a slow note as way too many cricket scenes are showcased. Technical Aspects: Production values of the film are top notch as the film showcases both the time zones in a superb manner. Music by Gopi Sundar is just about okay as some more hit songs could have made things better. But Thaman breathes life into the film with his BGM which is very good. Lyrics are meaningful and so were the dialogues which showcase the middle class set up well. Chay has been styled well as the different age groups he plays have been showcased quite nicely. Coming to the director Shiva Nirvana, he has once again showcased a mature love story impressively. Though the story seems old, his adaptation and setting it in a middle class set family is very good. He extracts superb emotions from the lead actors and makes them portray their realistic characters with ease. There are many scenes which will connect with youth, women, and parents which Shiva has presented well. Verdict: Premam was a career-changing film for Chay and Majili will do the same as it will take him one step higher in his career. Samantha ably supports Chay with her lovable portrayal and they as a couple, make Majili work in the second half. The film will be liked by the family audience and youth as both the halves have been set according to their sensibilities. If you ignore the predictable nature of the script and bear the slow pace, the roller coaster of emotions will surely make you enjoy this film comfortably. Go watch it.

Majili Story: An alcoholic and a failed cricketer, Poorna is a nuisance in his neighbourhood, burden for his father and a wound that needs to be nursed for his wife. His wound runs deep as its not physical, but an emotional trauma caused by a love story which changes him forever. Majili Review: Love, heartbreak and cricket is the premise around which Shiva Nirvana builds his latest love story Majili. He builds his characters slowly around this, but for the large part of the film, there's a lot of heartbreak and less love, while cricket is simply shown as an aside — most of it is exaggerated and flawed. Strangely enough, for a love story like Majili, there are a lot of action sequences. It seems people in Vizag, where the film is based, are willing to beat each other up at the drop of a hat. And there's seldom any closure to all the violence. It all seemed part of a mythical 'magic formula' that the director was trying to find. And yet, despite all of this, Majili keeps you interested and entertained for most part of it. The film revolves around Poorna (Naga Chaitanya), a failed cricketer, who becomes an alcoholic and borrows money from his wife Sravani (Samantha) to get his daily booze fix. He's a nuisance to his neighbourhood and a constant source of worry to his dad (Rao Ramesh). But Sravani remains convinced that he'll come around, that his wounds will eventually heal. Except his wounds are not physical — they are emotional ones that run so deep, it nearly destroys him. It's a failed love story (no surprises there), involving Anshu (Divyanka Kaushik), the daughter of a naval officer (Atul Agnihotri). As a budding cricketer, Poorna falls for Anshu (in a typical, dramatic hate-turns-love situation) and just when things seem to be going smoothly, he gets involved in a rift with his captain, quits the team and decides to work for a corrupt politician Bhushan (Subbarao) instead. And just like that, one bad decision changes his life forever. Quite often, the director seems to be in two minds and is unsure whether he wants to break stereotypes or tick every box that he thinks is needed to make the film work. In a lot of ways, the film is refreshing. Each character has depth and seems to have been nurtured with a lot of thought, the music is wonderful, and the pain of the protagonist is portrayed without turning the film into a sobfest. The director is helped by some brilliant performances from the lead cast. Samantha outshines everybody else with an understated yet powerful performance. Chaitanya seems more in his element when he's playing the bearded, heartbroken alcoholic rather than the younger cricketer that's shown in the flashback sequences. Rao Ramesh and Posani Murali Krishna are the ones who lift this film beyond the protagonist's sullen love story, with terrific performances. For all its moments of brilliance, the flaws in Majili are too glaring to ignore. For instance, the director seems to be confused about what to do with Subbbaraju's character. First he's shown as this evil goon. He then becomes more powerful but is then made irrelevant to the film or the plot. The film becomes a tale of two halves. From an abrupt end to one love story, it starts a new one, and it doesn't always convince — neither does the climax. But as Majili plays out, you sympathise with the protagonist, feel his angst and relate to his pain. The film has enough in it to keep you glued to the screen, and despite the ill-timed songs and unnecessary fights, Majili is worth a watch.

Majili is about events rather than conversations.It could have been a coming-of-age drama but it remains content with situational humour and convenient situations for the most part.Performances and a couple of other elements save the day.