Made his debut with a flop, Vijay Deverakonda’s younger brother Anand Deverakonda pins many hopes on his second film Middle Class Melodies which is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Directed by Vinod Ananthoju, the film features Varsha Bollamma as lead actress. Let’s now get into the actual review part:
Assumes that he’s popular for making Bombay Chutney, Raghava (Anand Deverakonda) wishes to setup a hotel in Guntur, wherein his father who runs a small time hotel in his village is against it. Raghava is in love with his maradalu Sandhya (Varsha Bollamma). But, Sandhya’s father is in search of a right match for her marriage. Raghava faces many obstacles in bringing customers to his hotel due to several reasons and one amongst them is his tasteless Bombay chutney. What he does to win his love and also to make his hotel forms crux of the story.
Vinod Ananthoju for his debut directorial opted for a simple story set in a village near Guntur. Apparently, he wanted to explore the culture and environment of Guntur Town. He somehow succeeded in doing so. But, the problem lies with weak narration. There is no strong conflict and few scenes looked unconvincing. Particularly, a sequence that was needed the right drama for hero to discover his cooking talent was silly. Music by Sweekar Agasthi and RH Vikram is one of the best parts, wherein cinematography by Sunny Kurapati is decent. Production values of Bhavya Creations are perfect for film of the genre.
Coming to artists performances, Anand Deverakonda is far better compared to his first film. He came up with a settles performance. But, he should be cautious in picking right subjects. Varsha Bollamma is cool as an innocent girl. But, the real hero of the film is Goparaju Ramana who played Anand’s father. He is a good find and utilized the opportunity to the core. Other artists were okay.
Few Comedy Scenes
Music
Outdates Story
Clichéd Narration
Lack Of Drama
Weak Direction
Abrupt Ending
Vijay Deverakonda’s first major hit Pelli Choopulu was about hero’s passion for cooking. His brother Anand too tried similar theme for his second film. While Pelli Choopulu was set in urban backdrop, Middle Class Melodies is set in rural backdrop. Right kind of drama, fantastic chemistry of the lead pair, healthy comedy and exceptional technical support was the reason behind Vijay’s film ended up as a winner. Almost every positive aspect of Pelli Choopulu is missing in Middle Class Melodies.
The film begins on humorous note with a housewarming ceremony followed by hero Anand’s introduction as a youngster who feels he can make best Bombay chutney. Middle class obstacles are shown convincingly with few characters. Anand’s love story during his college days with his maradalu played by Varsha is routine and lacked the mesmerizing factor. Love story of hero’s friend was a satire on people’s belief on horoscope. But, this track should have been brief. The registration episode was one of the best entertaining parts in first half.
Things turn much complicated in second half as the major focus shifts to protagonist making efforts to finding the reasons for failure of his hotel. Anand’s challenge with Varsha’s father looks unpersuasive as this gives an impression that for him love is not prime priority for him. Then, the most important sequence of Anand discovering the right recipe lacked the drama. Abrupt ending gives incompleteness to the narration.
All in all, Middle Class Melodies is a routine stuff with some comedy in parts. The response would have been destructive, had the film released in theatres. CJ goes with 2.25 star rating and it is recommended to be watched the film with least expectations!