Ashta Chemma

Story Indraganti Mohankrishna
Screenplay Indraganti Mohankrishna
Direction Indraganti Mohankrishna
Camera P.G.VInda
Editing Marthand Venkatesh
Music Kalyani Mallik
Art Ravinder
Producer P. Ram Mohan

*ing: Hema, Jhansi, Tanikella Bharani, Srinivas, Bhargavi, Swathi, Nani

Ashta Chemma is the third film for Indraganti Mohankrishna, who bagged national award with his first film itself - Grahanam. He got appreciation from big wigs that he will make the industry proud. However, his second film Mayabazar failed both with critics and box office. The film in review, Ashta Chemma, has good comedy. Mohan Krishna succeeded to the extent of generating good laughs in the film.

Story in brief: Lavanya (Swathi) is a big fan of Mahesh Babu and only dreams of getting married to him. All attempts by her aunt (Jhansi) to get Lavayna married goes futile because of Lavanya's admiration for Mahesh Babu. Since Mahesh Babu is married, Lavanya agrees to marry but his name should be Mahesh babu. Anand (Srinivas Avasarala) is the neighbour of Lavanya and takes up the responsibility of finding a Mahesh for Lavanya. He finds one Mahesh (Nani). Lavanya and Mahesh fall in love. All is well that ends well. But not at this point in the story. It turns out that Mahesh's original name is Rambabu. Did Lavanya and Rambabu get married? What is the ploys done by Anand? Watch it on the screen for the plot.

Swathi is impressive in her role as Lavanya, a die hard fan of Mahesh Babu. Her looks aptly fitted the character of the role where she had to be naughty. Nani, who made his debut, is also impressive. However, at times he reminds of Sumanth in expressions and even in voice. Highlight and key character in the film is that of Anand played by Srinivas Avasarala, who also made debut. Forget about the basics, he really rocked with his timing. Bhargavi, Hema, Thanikella Bharani, Sivannarayana, Jhansi, Vasu, Goparaju and others are content in their roles.

Indraganti Mohan Krishna provided story, screenplay, dialogs and direction for the film. He is successful partly. The reason is that the story is thin lined and hence constrains the scope. Narration is entertaining in the first half but when it comes to second half, there is nothing else to run the story on and hence becomes weak at times. Story has some similarities to old Bollywood flick Jayabadhuri's Guddi. It is the dialogs that Mohankrishna did a commendable job with. He should be applauded for that.

Is it me or the touch of the director with Telugu literature; some flair of Gireesam (kanyasulkam) can be seen in the characterization of Anand. It came out very good.

Music by Kalyani malik is a plus. Adinchi Ashta Chamma, Hello Antoo, Thidatara songs are very good. P.G.Vinda's cinematography is impressive. Marthand Venkatesh's editing is content. As usual, lyrics penned by Sitarama Sastry are very good. Choreography by Nobel is good and movements are decent, contrary to the present trend.

First half of the film is dedicated in showcasing the admiration (fanaticism) that Lavanya has for Mahesh Babu and then Anand introducing her to Rambabu. This part of the film passes on quickly as it has good comedy. When it came to the second half, there is nothing much to carry in terms of concept. Hence a bit of drag is felt. Thanikella Bharani and Hema's track gets a few laughs. And also there is one flashback episode of Rambabu that had good potential of generating hilarious comedy. Somehow, that track failed to generate so much.

First half is good and second half feels drag at times. Overall, Ashta Chemma can be an enjoyable fare.