Couple of Songs, Puri Akash, few one-linersCouple of Songs, Puri Akash, few one-linersPredictable Script, Snail Paced Narration, Editing, Forced Comedy bits, Direction and Second Half

 The film set in late 1990’s. It’s a story of Nizambad Narsing Yadav (Akash Puri) a waster who is a scourge to his economically stripped lower caste family. He is thrown out of the house by his angry mother after he fails to deliver tiffin boxes of Kothagudem thermal power station employees and fails in SSC exams yet again. To endure, he starts working at a Venugopal Theater. Meanwhile, his friends advocate him to get a girlfriend as they believe “behind every successful man there is a women” & it’s a must in life to endure. Just at that time, Narsing eyes falls on upper caste, mannerly, nerdy Prashanthi (Ulka Gupta) and he quickly falls for her. What starts as a “fling of a short time” turns out to be a wholehearted affair between the both. But life doesn't play out in a neat line. The various twists and turns that follow unravels the enigma.

 Performances are very static, and the episodes keep repeating themselves without building up the characters or adding to the story. The child actor Akash Puri, who was seen in salient films like Dhoni, The Lotus Pond, Gabbar Singh and Bujjigadu makes his acting debut with Andhra Pori. He has to work on his histrionics, mannerisms and grace in dancing. As a debutant actor Akash Puri looks silly as a person who could fall in love at first sight and he does this very fine. Another Debutant Ulka Gupta (TV Series Jhansi Ki Rani Fame) has nothing much to do other than smiling sweetly at the main characters. Even her dubbing doesn’t sync with her lip movements in main sequences. Srikanth Iyenger is fine as Ulka Gupta’s angry father. His character didn’t shine as expected. Veteran actress Eshwari Rao has also done a decent job as caring mother of Puri Akash. Prema Ishq Kadhal fame Srimukhi and Arvind Krishna are good in their limited roles. Other characters like Uttej, DMK, Dr Krishna Swamy, Abhinaya chip in their regular does of contributions that rather looked clinched.

Andhra Pori is an official remake of Marathi Super Hit film ”Timepass”. It’s a story of two teenagers who are attracted to each other. The girl belongs to a well-versed family while the guy is a street roughneck. But the love blooms between the two. The story is extremely stale, predictable and something we have seen several million times before. The point is that the film suffers from uninspiring narration which spells boredom for the audience from the start to the finish.

Director Raj Madiraju’s first cinematic outing Rushi featured Arvind Krishna & Shailaja Supriya, Where he explored the lives of medical students and tells us the medical case that Arvind was fighting. But he has changed track with Andhra Pori. A touch of authenticity was expected from the director and Raj didnt disappoint in the initial scenes. But then the story wanders from romance, comedy, forced songs and tries to convey a message in the end, but doesn’t not give us the opportunity to feel involved in it. This film has been made with a distinct Telangana – Andhra confluent and conflicting sensibility probably in the hopes of garnering a huge gulte following.

There are too many absurdities and unconvincing liberties takes by both writers and the director in the script, which don’t let you fall in love with the innocent characters. To be precise, in a place like Kothagudem (in early 1990s), a young school girl gets stalked by a ruffian & even gets proposed by him on the main road, not causing any panic in people around the community was unbelievable, keeping might the social structure in early 90’s. Secondly, Music Teacher Sapna (Sri Mukhi) literally states that to feel swaras in music, a person needs to be in love. Which was again highly derisory for me and strongly disgraceful too. Thirdly, Gopal Rao believes in values of society, And breaks a budding love between Akash and Ulka, but leaves Arvind with Sri Mukhi in the end (to prove “true love conquers all” in an odd way).

The music by Dr J sadly, is not upto the mark and the background score is total letdown. Cinematography by Praveen Vanamali is average. Dialogues in the film should have been more interesting. The Editor Srikar Prasad should have used his scissors more. The length of 140 minutes is too high for the wafer thin storyline. The dream sequences, couple of songs should have been easily shortened. Visual Effects in the film are mediocre. The production values of Prasad Productions are hunky-dory.

Andhra Pori is supposed to be an innocent love story and aimed at providing a feel good entertainment. But makers invariably fail to capture the soul (Innocence in Teenage Love) of the original while replicating the content with our nativity. Those who found promising elements in Raj Mudiraj’s debut film "Rushi", will be surprised to see "Andhra Pori". He not only fails as a writer but as a director as well.

Aakash Puri,Ulka Gupta,Raj Mudiraju,Ramesh Prasad,Josyabhatla.Bottomline: Andhra Pori - Fails to Impress