Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu Movie Review: Heart-touching writing would have uplifted this family entertainer

Title: Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu

Cast: Sharwanand, Rashmika Mandanna and others

Director: Kishore Tirumala

Run-Time: 141 minutes

Rating: 2.5/5

In a serious scene, Radhika Sarathkumar's character tells her son Chiru (Sharwanand) that women expect their men to possess a sense of humour. 'Be humorous, be caring', the good mother exhorts her unmarried, frustrated son. Her sermon left this reviewer wondering how can anyone nurture a sense of humour when half a dozen boring elders in the family are capable of only haranguing or self-caricaturing. In the film under review, the male lead's desperation to get married has made him occasionally indulge in clownish behaviour. It's just that the film wants to pass it off as cuteness.

Chiru runs a wedding hall (if you cared to notice). He falls in love with Aadhya (Rashmika Mandanna), who sort of likes him after he saves her from potential sexual predators (this was an outdated trope even in the 1990s). Two months pass and Chiru and the excessively concerned female elders in his family are convinced that Aadhya is going to be the wife/daughter-in-law. This is when Aadhya throws a bombshell: her mother Vakula (Khushbu), a self-made entrepreneur, is a tough nut to crack. Will Chiru convince her about his self-attested eligibility to be Aadhya's husband?

The film comes with a decent yet curious premise. The male lead feels that he is a victim of the matriarchal mindsets of the elders in his family. The element of one's past haunting us and determining our mindsets is also touched upon by the script. To the film's credit, Sharwanand's character is sidelined and the women get the space to untie the knots and/or soften their maximalist positions one fine day. 

Much as the premise and the climax are worthy enough, the narration suffers from boring dialogue-writing. The lines are parched and unnecessarily verbose when they morph into monologues. 

Usually, most rom-com tracks suffer from zero chemistry between the hero-heroine duo. In 'AMJ', Sharwanand and Rashmika seem to share negative chemistry. If you have watched the film, try to recall just one instance where you felt Rashmika's Aadhya really loves Chiru. Just one. There is barely an intense stretch that makes us feel for Chiru and it's because of his characterization. He is always made to look like a comically frustrated guy.

Barring Urvashi, the rest of the senior artists (mainly Radhika Sarathkumar and Khushbu) get to play unidimensional characters that barely find their rhythm. They don't have an existence beyond Chiru. No sentimental scene involving them tugs at the heartstrings and we hardly sympathize with them till before the climax. The men in Chiru's family are mute spectators to the circus around them. 

After milking Vennela Kishore's talent, the film struggles to evoke laughter through comedian Satya. Ravi Shankar has a cameo in an archaic sub-plot that exists precisely to salvage Chiru in an artificial turn of events.  

Devi Sri Prasad's background score is dull, but the songs are a mixed bag (unpopular opinion: the title track is better than the rest of the songs). Sujith Sarang's cinematography is functional. 

ALSO READ: Naradan Movie Review: Tovino Thomas shines on screen as a news reporter in this thrilling story

Check out the trailer here: