Cast : Abhijeet, Sudhakar, Kaushik, Shriya, Zara, Shagun Gupta, Amala, Anajala Zhaveri
Directed by : Sekhar Kammula
Produced by : Chandrasekhar Kammul
Music : Mickey J Meyer
Release Date : 2012-09-14
Sekhar Kammula is a different filmmaker who doesn't follow age old cliches and formulas, but has set his own commercial formula which has clicked with certain section of audiences. His target audiences are youth and urban families and yet again he made a film that is targeted at them. Life is Beautiful is brand Sekhar Kammula film. Here are the details...
What is it about?
This film is set in a colony where there the rich and middle class families live in. Rich families live in Gold phase and poor and middle class families live in B phase. Rich and poor guys always fight with each other. Srinivas (Abhijeet) comes to this colony and he makes friends with Nagaraj (Sudhakar) and Abhi (Kaushik). All the three lives in B phase and they have frequent tiffs with Gold phase guys. The beautiful moments, love, pain and other sweet nothings in the life of three central characters is the main theme of this film.
Performances:
All the youngsters did well. Abhijeet is fine. Sudhakar is very natural with his Telagana accent. Kaushik reminds you of 'Tyson' in Happy Days. His characterization and love track with Shriya has striking resemblance to 'Sonia-Tyson' thread in Happy Days. He did an okay job. He fits the character well. Shriya is alright. Amala is good and Anajala Jhaveri is beautiful. Zara and Shagun Gupta are good. All the characters behave and don't really act. That is the beauty of this film on the performance side.
On the Technical Front:
Like every other Sekhar Kammula film, Life is Beautiful is also neat on the technical front. Cinematography is pleasant, production design is decent. Editing could have been crisper. There is so much lag in the film. Music by Mickey J Meyer is fine, but it isn't as good as Happy Days musical score.
Sekhar Kammula sticks to his strengths and make s a sincere attempt. There is no big story in the film and hence he has to make it up with good scenes and dialogues. He carried it along in a decent manner despite few hiccups.
Analysis:
First half of the film is anything but beautiful. Except for few funny moments here and there, it drags on and on with the same scenes repeating again and again. There is no story in the film till the interval part.
Thankfully, Kammula avoided the rich, poor clash in the second half and concentrated more on the characters. There are certain beautiful scenes and dialogues in this hour. There is a sentimental touch towards the end and it is heart touching.
Little girl's speech about mother is the best scene in the film. After dragging the film for nearly three hours Sekhar Kammula doesn't end it convincingly. Abrupt ending is one of the weaknesses. This film will not appeal to everyone.
If you are a fan of Sekhar Kammula movies and if you have loved Happy Days very much, Life is Beautiful too will satisfy to an extent. Except for some good moments, Life is Beautiful is not a great film. May be it is the weakest of Kammula's till date. That doesn't mean it is bad. We intend to say that his previous films were better.
Verdict: Life is Beautiful, but... yeah, it is beautiful!