Life is Beautiful

My review : Life is Beautiful

A hint that Sekhar Kammula was loosing his grip was evident in his previous flick "Leader". His latest one which he has written , produced & directed "Life is Beautiful" is the least interesting of all his movies. Surprisingly the emotional connect that he is so good at is missing here. Whole movie is very dramatic & artificial that one get a feeling of watching an amateurishly made serial. 

Mired with a very casual direction with no attention to detail whatsoever , the movie is replete with oft repeated scenes & themes of Sekhar's previous movies. Only thing is that here everything seems forced into the narrative rather than them taking their normal course. Even the twist  towards the end & the mother sentiment  seem contrived & fails to make any impact. 

The crude manner in which he has showcased the class divide in a black & white manner is not in keeping with Sekhar's stature. There is not even one scene in this movie which he can claim to be novel. He has chosen to play it safe or one should say lazy by not thinking much but stuck in his comfort zone. 

Poor direction galore with every female character parading with overdone make-up , every male character doing nothing else other than either falling in love or engaging in gang fights. Melodrama rules & there is no scope for subtlety which is unusual from Sekhar.   

There are few instances where one could laugh out loud but they are few & far in between in this mediocre fare.   

Among the new comers Kaushik who plays Abhi & Sudhakar Komakula who plays Nagaraj walk away with acting honours. Rest of the newcomers show their inexperience. Abhijeet Duddala as Srini is self-conscious , Shagun Kaur as Paddu is charming but unidimentional in her acting  , Zara Shah as Lakshmi is good looking but doesn't seem to have any idea of what acting is. Among the well known ones Shriya does her usual bit in the name of acting while Anjala Jhaveri surprisingly does a good job. Much hyped come-back of Amala falls flat in a very cardboardish character. 

Mickey J Meyer has come out with his regular Sekhar Kammula movie background score & songs. 

If there is anything that one can talk good about in this movie , it is Vijay C Kumar's excellent cinematography with high production values.

On the whole, "Life is Beautiful " is Sekhar remaking his own movies in an amateurish manner.

Bottomline : Movie isn't beautiful

2/5