Love Me is a 2024 Telugu-language horror thriller film written and directed by Arun Bhimavarapu. The film has Ashish Reddy & Vaishnavi Chaitanya playing the lead roles while Simran Chaudhary, Ravi Krishna, Rajeev Kanakala & others are seen in important roles. The music is composed by M M Keeravaani and the film is produced by Harshith Reddy, Hanshitha Reddy & Naga Mallidi under Dil Raju Productions banner.
Story:
Arjun (Ashish) is a YouTuber who does dare videos online. One day he gets to know about a mystery surrounding an apartment and a ghost named Divyavathi through his brother (Ravi Krishna). Arjun decides to go there and find out the secrets about the apartment. In this process, he falls in love with the ghost and wants to unravel the mystery surrounding her. Who is Divyavathi? How does Arjun find out all the mysteries forms the crux of the film.
What about on-screen performances?
Ashish Velamkucha plays a complete contrast role to what he has done in his debut film. He looks a lot settled here and he performs his role adequately. He has certainly improved a lot when compared to his first film and his dialogue delivery is also neat.
Vaishnavi Chaitanya once again gets a meaty role and she passes with flying colours. She has an amazing screen presence and does well in the emotional scenes. Her role has a few similar shades of what she played in ‘Baby’ which the audience might feel during a few places in the second half.
Simran Chaudhary is pretty decent in her role as the skull reconstruction artist.
Ravi Krishna shines in a good supporting role as the hero’s brother.
Rajeev Kanakala and all the other supporting artists are okay in their limited roles.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Arun Bhimavarapu has a good unique core point where a guy falls in love with a ghost but the drama and emotions surrounding it are not up to the mark. When you have a core point like this, the reason why the guy falls for a ghost must be convincing enough but here there is no proper reason shown on why the hero loves a ghost or even why he wants to know about her, except for the fact that he wants to dwell into things which others say that these particular things are impossible.
The screenplay is one of the biggest drawbacks of the film. Right from the initial hero character presentation to the ending investigation & truth-revealing scenes, almost all the sequences look half-baked. The thread or flow that takes us from one scene to another is either confusing or unconvincing. Also, too much information and backstories are presented in a very hurried manner and they lose their significance.
Director Arun Bhimavarapu has surely come up with an interesting idea, but he fails miserably in translating it effectively onto the screen. He tried to pack in too much in a short time and the complex narration takes away the interest. He could not showcase the emotional connection between the key characters and even the emotions in the love portions fall flat.
PC Sreeram’s dark-toned cinematography and the overly lit frames look good on screen and his camera work is one of the biggest assets of the film.
M M Keeravaani’s background score is pretty decent as it lifts the film in key scenes. But his songs look dull. ‘Raavaali Raa’ is the only good song that leaves an impact.
The edit by Santhosh Kamireddy is below par and it should have cleared the confusion that’s harming the film which doesn’t happen.
The artwork by Avinash Kolla is underwhelming as all the portions where there are plants in the apartment look very artificial.
The production values by SDil Raju Productions are good.
What’s Hot?
* Ashish’s Performance
* Vaishnavi Chaitanya’s Performance
* Grand Visuals & Good Background Score
* Interval Portions & Ending Twist
What’s Not?
* Complex & Confusing Narrative
* Poorly Written Screenplay
* Clueless Investigation Scenes
* Flat Love Track
* Zero Emotional Connect
* Illogical & Unrealistic Scenes
Verdict: Overall, Love Me is an unrealistic and silly horror thriller where the emotions in the love story do not work, nor does the thrill meet expectations. Except for the unique premise of a guy loving a ghost, pretty much everything else is unconvincing.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.5/5