Senior actor Naresh has been seen in supporting characters for the past several decades and has now decided to make his re-entry as a leading man with the latest film Malli Pelli, which is directed by MS Raju. Pavitra Lokesh is the leading lady of this film, which has been released today. Let’s see how it has turned out to be.
Story:
Malli Pelli is based on the real-life story of Naresh, and the various controversies that surrounded his personal life recently. His relationship with Pavitra Lokesh and his divorce from his third wife Ramya Raghupathi is chronicled in the film. There’s some fiction too in the film, which mostly shows the audience what happened in reality. The story of this film is basically the relationship between Naresh and Pavitra and how it came to be.
On-Screen Performances:
Naresh is a very versatile actor, who has been seen in a wide variety of roles throughout his career. He looks fit and young in Malli Pelli, which shows him in a very youthful way – both in terms of his looks and attitude. While Naresh pulled off his character quite easily for most of the film, he did fall short in a few scenes.
Pavitra Lokesh looks good as well. She is quite good in her role too, and brings out her side of the story well enough, and earnestly too.
Vanitha Vijay Kumar is seen as Naresh’s third wife in the film, and she is the surprise factor of this movie. She gives a very honest performance, and her character is also shown in a very positive and neutral manner. There is no scene that degrades her in the movie.
Jayasudha and Sarath Babu are seen in key roles. The scenes between Jayasudha and Naresh have come out quite well, and are some of the most touching scenes in the entire film.
The rest of the supporting cast are good in their roles, and serve their purpose quite well.
Off-Screen Talents:
Director MS Raju could have done so much better with what he was given. The screenplay of the film is very slow and there’s a lot of lag in the first half. If the director took care of the same, then the first half of the film would have been so much better. The climax and the half an hour leading to the interval are entertaining when compared to the rest of the film, but even those are not enough to salvage the film, which suffers from the lack of proper execution. Moreover, there’s nothing new that this film shows us, with respect to the lives of Pavitra and Naresh, and only shows what the people have already seen on TV. The only new thing to be shown is Pavitra’s personal life.
The production values of the film are quite good, and that reflects in every frame. The cinematography of the film is also quite good.
The background music is one of the stronger points of the film. The editing is poor and could have made the film much better if it were done right.
Plus Points:
- Lead cast performances
- Background score
Minus Points:
- Direction
- Lag in the first half
- Known story
Verdict: Malli Pelli is just a retelling of what is known, from Naresh and Pavitra’s perspective. There’s a little fiction sprinkled here and there. Apart from that, there’s no factor that makes the film particularly appealing.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5