Ladies Tailor from Vamsy and Rajendra Prasad was a cult hit of those times. After a hiatus and dull phase, Vamsy is back this time with Fashion Designer story continuing the legacy of Ladies Tailor with his son Sumanth Ashwin and three hot chics Anisha Ambrose, Manali Rathod and Manasa. Let us see, how far Fashion Designer matched the standards with Ladies Tailor?
Gopalam (Sumanth Ashwin), a Fashion Designer in small Konaseema village aspires to open a new shop in city. To achieve this, he believes in Manmadha Rekha in his hand which magnetizes any girl to fall in his trap. To get the financial support for opening new shop, Gopalam first throws net on Gedela Rani (Manasa) then on Ammulu (Manali Rathod) and lastly Mahalakshmi (Anisha Ambrose). When all three girls get aware of Gopalam’s fraud, a new threat arises in the form of Gavarraju and killing of Ammulu. Whom Gopalam really loved and what happened later on is rest of climax.
As agreed very early on, Vamsy picked up Fashion Designer story, script almost on the same lines of Ladies Tailor varying Jama-Jacha to Cupid Line. It’s the same scenic Konaseema backdrop with scintillating visuals of timeless natural prosperity, traditions, language accent, slapstick comedy and so on. Writing though appeared lethargic at times; the same lines could have made more comic sense when uttered by much more skilled artists like Rajendra Prasad or Shubhalekha Sudhakar. Apparently, there is a sea of contrast between artists of LT and FD… it is alone Vamsy’s adroitness at deriving the maximum out of nativity stood on top. To be frank, Vamsy’s efforts could have been enhanced more if there’s a right casting on hand. Of course, it exposed the scarcity of artists in industry too. Onto direction, Vamsy hasn’t missed his trademark characterizations keeping audience attention drawn to the main screen. Though, it got fetish here and there… that’s what Vamsy is. Mani Sharma scored astonishing melodies and background score is also noteworthy. Nagesh Bannell’s camera work is best part as all the visuals connect us to the authentic and a well known backdrop. Baswa Paidireddy’s editing was a brilliant work especially in songs. About production standards, Madhura Sreedhar is worth a pat on shoulder.
Onto artists, Sumanth Ashwin did not fit so well into Sathyam’s son role. He is just ok in second half when story has to take a real drive on. All three heroines are voluptuously dominating one another. While Manasa is loud, Manali Rathod is plump and lastly Anisha Ambrose showed a decent screen presence. Among the rest, the one who did Pandu, sidekick to hero is fine. Artist who did Gavarraju is also good. Krishna Bhagawan is an extension of Rajendra Prasad in April 1 Vidudala. Rest of the artists including Krishnudu did their jobs.
Vamsy Mark Humor
Heroines Glamour
Mani Sharma Songs
Nagesh Bannell Camera Work
Second Half
First Half
Poor Artist Selection
Overboard Narration
Outdated Treatment
For all those audience missing the quality and trademark Vamsy treatment for a while, here is a glimpse of satisfaction though the master film maker is not into his best of the forms. Blame it on various factors; apparently this film is acceptable to an extent from Vamsy. Trying hard to revive his old classic touch, director in Vamsy forgot to update his own standards to get tuned with current generation audience thus leaving the screenplay go berserk. Audience finds it hard to sympathize with all lead characterizations due to weak writing and missing emotions in overall concept.
First half begins with introduction of Gavarraju’s cruelty which is dealt again only in climax. Onto Sumanth Ashwin and his side kick, Vamsy did not take much time to establish them with his stamped shots using their stitching skills. Immediately to Manmadha Rekha, one song of Anveshana opens the actual plot. Manasa as Gedela Rani is a bit awkward. Manali Rathod is a feast for front benchers. As these two tracks with Sumanth Ashwin move on torpidly, thus comes in Anisha Ambrose to further spice up the screen. Intermediary gap fillings failed miserably as Gavarraju and Krishnudu take lead space for a below average interval.
Once story gets into second half, Vamsy accelerated all the tracks to join at one place. From the scene where Manasa, Manali, Anisha meet riverside with Sumanth hiding in water, comic quotient improved scene by scene. Then the song Meghaale Thaake is full of Vamsy’s creative sparks. As screenplay moves on expected lines, Manali’s murder creates a suspense factor. Not for long, climax is very much on familiar lines.
All in all, Fashion Designer is though no way closer to Ladies Tailor’s spell-bound merits yet Vamsy admirers can have few laughs and visual delight. In particular, artist selection derailed the final output making the film overall a pretty average fare. Commercially, the film can probably do decent business in B, C centers where spice and adult content pays good revenues. Cinejosh rates Fashion Designer with 2.5 stars just for the glimpse of Vamsy’s partial comeback.