Ishq (2012) Reviews

• Action overshadowed the romance

  krshychait2012-02-25

  Picture this! You are about to eat a most delicious sweet which looks alluring, dressed up in picture perfect package, only when you taste it, you know that it has been peppered with and has some sour in it. Well that just sums up, Nitin's latest film, "ISHQ". This entertainer has been packaged well and marketed well too, but somewhere something happened and the end result is not up to the expectations. So what went wrong with Ishq? Let's see. Rahul (Nitin) is a happy-go-lucky youngster studying in New Delhi. He has an ability to turn his enemies into friends with his wit and intelligence. While he is moving back to Hyderabad, he meets Priya (Nitya Menen) at the airport. Their flight gets diverted to Goa due to rainfall in Hyderabad and in the meanwhile, Rahul and Priya attend a marriage and fall in love. Before Rahul expresses his love, he gets a shock of his life when he finds that Priya's brother is Shiva (Ajay) with whom he had a violent history. He knows that Shiva will not allow their marriage. Can Rahul play with his wit and charm and convince Shiva to get them married forms the rest of the story. As said earlier, "ISHQ" gets spoiled and the end taste is sour than sweet. The first half of the film sets things up quite nicely and we believe that we are going to see a breezy entertainer in the mould of "Ala Modalaindi" and the more recent "Love Failure," but the second half more focuses on the one-oneupmanship and mind games between Rahul and Shiva and loses the real romance between the hero and the heroine. The drama which ought to have developed between Rahul and Priya is put aside and their track becomes very one-sided without any friction as there are no conflicts between them. There is only one conflict for the hero and that is Shiva. Compared to Rahul, Shiva's role gets more scope and appears more varied and evolved. The director Vikram should have etched some conflict in the love story rather than playing to the gallery by making the villain look cornered. Had the focus been on the drama between the hero-heroine then the end result should have been an icing on the cake in this Valentine month. Other than this, the technical departments, especially Cinematography and re-recording created a great impact. When someone like PC Sreeram is handling the camera that is the output you get and this film is a revelation for Aup Reubens with regards to the background score. He almost made scenes compelling with his score. Check for his score in the Airport scene. Stunt choreography was alright and there are places where Sreekar Prasad would have used his scissors to edit the length without losing the essence and those are in the second half. Ramesh Samala did a fine job with dialogues. The director, Vikram Kumar is a bright prospect and had he spent more time on his story developing the lovers thread more, then everyone would have been raving about him. On the whole, Vikram will get talked about as the youth are taking to this film nicely. Coming to the performances of the cast, this is a welcome break for Nitin who was struggling with his career. He looked more rounded as an actor but his stiff legs still need some loosening while dancing. Overall, its a breather for Nitin. Nitya Menen brings in all that believability into her character. She is one actress who talks with eyes and before she speaks, her thoughts are already understood. She looked ravishing and remains the best part of the movie. ISHQ would be another break for her. Another important cog in ISHQ is Ajay who has the most complex role in the movie and performs it with élan. He is apt as a violent man and looks convincing as a reformed man too. He almost carries the weight of entire second half on his shoulders and manages fairly well. The supporting cast of Rohini, Kasi Viswanath, Ravi Prakash, Nagineedu and Sudha do their routine and just vanish. But what was Sindhu Tolani doing in this film? She plays sister to Nitin and looked very old. Sad to see talented actresses being underutilized. Overall, ISHQ is an OK sort of a movie which would not bore you and does entertain you in bits. But it could have been a memorable had the director spent..... Well, I have said enough.

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• Romantic Comedy

  Hinduboy972012-07-31

  Story Rahul (Nitin) falls in love with Priya (Nitya) at the first sight. Both of them alight a flight at Delhi to Hyderabad, but is diverted to Goa due to bad weather. They fall in love with each other in Goa. Rahul realizes an important thing when they finally land in Hyderabad. The rest of the story is all about how Rahul solves the problem and weds Priya. Artists Performance Nitin looks completely different in this movie. He is matured as an actor. He tried to be himself and completely justified his character. He has succeeded in getting the minute nuances work with his performance. Nitya Menon continued it from where she left in Ala Modalaindi. She is cute and natural. Ajay steals it from everybody whenever he gets a meaty role. In this film too, he made sure that he adds value. Ali is entertaining in a cameo. Nagineedu is good in a vital role. Sindhu Tolani, Satya Krishnan, Supreet and Ravi Prakash are adequate. Technical departments Story - screenplay - direction: Director Vikram pens an interesting story with a 'brother' conflict point. He handles the screenplay well and joins all the dots at regular intervals. He handled lots of scenes in first half with dexterity. The characterization done to Nitin and Nitya in the first half is unique and lovable. However, Vikram couldn't handle the second half the same way. The character of Ajay appears confusing as it vaccinates between being a passionate family man and phychotic revenge seeker. Other departments: Cinematography by PC Sreeram stands out in this movie. Visually the film is very rich. Songs scored by Anoop Rubens and Aravind Shankar are excellent (with Kodi Baye song being the highlight). Background music by Anoop is excellent. Dialogues by Ramesh Samala are apt. All songs are pictutized in an excellent manner. The stunt sequences are well choreographed. Art direction by Rajiv Nair is another plus. The unit has put a lot of effort in getting right locations (I haven't seen such a good flight take off and landing shots in Telugu films recently) Producers Sudhar Reddy and Vikram Goud made sure that they didn't compromise on budget as entire film looks grand. Analysis: First half of the film is nice and classy. Second half is OK with commercial twists. The narration of the film is slow. Plus points are good characterizations, nice screenplay, cinematography and music. A compact second half would have been good. Nitin is in his elements in Ishq. You may watch it.

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• Nitin is Back!

  arundathi2012-10-03

  A story that has been repeated a few times but with a refreshing twist. A guy loves girl, girl loves guy, problem with family, smartly resolved. This film belongs to Ajay. He portrays a character that could be seen as both a villain and a hero. He captures the essence of a loving brother with a few flaws. This film arguably relaunches Nitin into the market. His style and charisma outshine his dialogues. At times it seemed as if he could not naturally speak because the words seemed so unnatural. Nithya Menon was an okay choice to pair with Nitin but her speaking appeared amateurish. She sounded uncomfortable speaking in Telugu. In some scenes she seemed too overexcited and unnatural. But there was not much chemistry between her and Nitin. The rest of the cast were decent. They have done the same roles over and over so they were neither amazing nor disappointing. The songs were a plus in the movie. The cinematography was very done well especially the scenes for the songs. Director Vikram Kumar made a great movie but should have been a bit more careful with some aspects of the dialogues. Overall, this movie is a one-time watch.

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