Neevevaro Review: An underwhelming remake

Despite strong performances from the leads, the film is let down by its predictable plot and slow pace
Neevevaro Review: An underwhelming remake

Remakes may seem like a safe bet for filmmakers owing to their ready-made stories, which lessen the number of working days and provide marketing advantages. But there is a flipside – the content may not meet the expectations set by original, may ruin the nostalgia and the project may end up as a catastrophic failure. Hence, they are a tricky proposition.

Cast: Aadhi Pinisetty, Taapsee Pannu, Ritika Singh
Director: Harinath

In this week’s release Neevevaro, a remake of the Tamil film Adhe Kangal, Aadhi Pinisetty plays Kalyan, an award-winning visually-challenged chef. The film, which also stars Taapsee Pannu and Ritika Singh, has some strikingly impressive action sequences, romance, beautiful locales and a melodious soundtrack. Much of the film’s first hour shows Kalyan’s work at a restaurant, the love track, his fight with the goons, regaining his eyesight and the most traumatic, momentous and disorienting upheaval he has ever gone through in search of his missing soulmate.

In the second hour the film turns into a race-against-time thriller. As a viewer, it takes time for us to arrive on the same page as the characters. And just when we think we’ve figured out everything, we're made restless again with all the ridiculous humourless comedy as the protagonist resumes decoding the unfinished details way too conveniently ahead of the inevitable climax. One can’t help but wonder how a police constable can be so clueless, while the hero alone is a polymath!

Director Harinath and writer Kona Venkat may have cracked the climax, but they hardly invest in the rest of this sloppy thriller. The film is weighed down by gaping plot holes. What could easily have been a gripping mystery thriller is stretched into a cliched and predictable formula film.

Aadhi Pinisetty is competent and gets a few moments to shine. With this film, it’s evident that he is trying to fit into the shoes of a commercial hero. Taapsee Pannu pulls off her role with aplomb. After making a confident debut as a kickboxer with Guru, Ritika Singh sizzles in a role that gives little scope for her to amuse the audience. Vennela Kishore and Sapthagiri distract us from the story with their ineffective comedy. Cinematographer Sai Sriram’s visuals are embarrassingly amateurish.

In all, Neevevaro is a tepid thriller whose sluggish narrative weakens the impact of the strong performances from its lead cast.

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