Happy Days Review

This is from one of the better directors in Telugu, the remake rights were bought by Prakash Raj even before the movie was released. Shetty bhai maybe you should watch this instead of Chirutha.

http://idlebrain.com/movie/archive/mr-happydays.html

Jeevi rating: 3.5/5
Punchline: a journey through college days
Genre: Youth
Type: Straight
Banner: Amigoes Creations

Cast: Sandesh, Nikhil, Vamsi Krishna, Raahul, Tamanna, Gayatri Rao, Sonia, Monali Chowdary and Kamalinee Mukherjee (in a guest role)

Camera: Vijay C Kumar
Music: Mickey J Meyer
Art: Kishore Chowksi
Editing: Marthand K Vankatesh
Story - screenplay - dialogues - direction: Sekhar Kammula
Producer: Sekhar Kammula
Release date: 29 September 2007

Review

Story

happydays Chandu (Sandesh), Rajesh (Nikhil), Shankar (Vamsi Krishna), Tyson (Raahul), Madhu (Tamanna), Appu (Gayatri Rao) and Sangeeta (Monali Chowdary) are a bunch of freshers in a college. They all together make a fine gang. Chandu - Madhu, Rajesh - Appu Shankar - Sangeeta soon build up their relation and become pairs. Tyson - a nerd with a heart of gold - ends up falling in love with a senior Sravanthi (Sonia). The rest of the story is how they spend their four years of their education in the campus and express love for their respective dear ones.

Artists Performance

happy daysMain male leads: This film boasts of perfect casting. You see characters, not the actors. All the new comers performed in an extremely natural way. And by the time movie ends, we end up understanding the characteristics and traits of each and every one. As per the footage and likeability of the character is concerned Varun Sandesh takes the top ranking. He is extremely lovable and his striking resemblance to hero Siddhardh is an added advantage. He understood the character very well. The next is Raahul. Lots of credit should be given to Sekhar Kammula for penning such a beautiful character and Raahul suited it to the tee. Nikhil is pretty good as the tapori. He got considerable importance towards the latter half of the second half. Vamsi Krishna is a pretty good actor, but did not get enough scope to perform. The two guys who had donned the role of seniors are good.

happydaysMain female leads: Tamanna is the main heroine of the film. She is very good and she oozed natural expressions in all her scenes. Gayatri Rao is also very natural and likable. However, it is Sonia who steals the show with her extremely natural and at times subtle expressions. Monali Chowdary is good as the bad girl. Kamalinee Mukherjee did the role of an extremely glamorous lecturer and she dubbed her own voice. She is cool.

Technical Departments:

happy daysStory - screenplay - direction: There is not much of a story in this film. It is about the love of four couples spread over four years. What makes the big difference to this simple and plain story is director’s ability to create interest throughout the film with neat screenplay. He brought out tremendous emotion in the scenes of separation and reunion between the pairs.

The following scenes standout:

1. The separation scene of Tyson and Sravanthi is very fascinating.
2. Rajesh’s reaction after he beats up his friend Shankar.
3. The way he ended the love thread between Tyson and Sravanthi. If Sravanthi accepted Tyson’s love, then it would appear that the director is giving messages that it is ok to love your senior girls in the college.

The following dialogues are so meaningful and true:

1. Love and fear can never coexist.
2. A boy’s character is judged by the kind of girls he roams with.
3. The college life may fail you to achieve great academic rewards, but it will definitely give you the ability to achieve any thing.
4. College Days are Happy Days. The days that follow college days are purposeful days.

However the following aspects of the film are unwarranted:

1. Rajesh’s hair style in the beginning appears artificial. And he keeps using Telangana dialect though he is from Proddutur (Rayalaseema).
2. Tyson doing some scientific tricks. The extent of the tricks should have been limited.
3. The character of Panduranga Rao was introduced well. But there is no ending to that character.

I could not resist from bringing the comparison of the ego clash between lead pair in this film to that of Kushi film. In that film Bhumika Chawla had a clash with Pawan because he peaked at her midriff. In this film the ego clash comes out because the guy wants to kiss the girl.

happydaysOther departments: Music of the film is excellent and the two songs in the first half (music + visuals) take you to the different level. Micky J Meyer is just superb. Other department that dominates the movie is great cinematography. Visuals are a feast to the eyes. Vijay C Kumar who followed single color pattern for Anand and Godavari came up with different color sceheme for this film so that the visuals match the vibrancy of college atmosphere. Editing by Marthand K Venkatesh deserves special mention. He made sure the scenes flow in the film is smooth.

happy daysAnalysis: First half of the film is neat though some of us might feel that Sekhar Kammula kind of emotional scenes are not there. But in the second half of the film, he added good emotional episodes and made sure that you get connected with the film. The plus points of the film are direction, fresh cast, music, cinematography and editing. On the flip side, the pace of the film slackens at times. Sekhar Kammula who did female oriented films like Anand and Godavari came up with a film of different genre this time. The genre might be changed, but his honesty and filmmaking abilities are in tact. If he sticks to his sensibilities, Sekhar Kammula can never make a bad film. Go and watch ‘Happy Days’