Phalana Ammayi Phalana Abbayi: This Srinivas Avasarala directorial is not everybody’s tea

Hyderabad: Phalana Ammayi Phalana Abbayi directed by Srinivas Avasarala hit the screens on Saturday and is receiving mixed responses. Starring Naga Shourya and Malavika Nair in the lead roles, the film is a beautiful tale of how emotions take a toll on relationships. Here is the review.

Story

Anupama (Malavika Nair) was Sanjay’s (Naga Shourya) senior in an engineering college in Visakhapatnam. They become friends in a ragging scene and become best friends eventually. After completing engineering, they leave for the UK for higher studies and fall in love there. Once they start a live-in relationship, silly and petty fights form a wall between them.

As Anupama is Sanjay’s senior, she completes her studies first. Sanjay starts getting insecure and begins to avoid her. At the same time, Anupama finds him becoming close to a female colleague and it doesn’t go well with her. Both are unable to express their love for each other and get lost in their assumptions and insecurities. You have to watch the movie to know whether the couple, separated on different occasions, finally come together or not.

Analysis

Director Avasarala Srinivas has beautifully conveyed that a couple living together without being able to express themselves properly can make a mountain out of a molehill. This story teaches us that there is a need to put aside petty quarrels and suspicions and understand each other.

Naga Shourya as Sanjay and Malavika Nair as Anupama are excellent. Shaurya has improved a lot in terms of acting, and Malavika has given a wonderful performance that stole the show from Shaurya.

Since this is a Srinivas Avasarala directorial, fans watch the film with certain expectations. The humour and comedy in his films are unique. But this movie misses the stamp of Srinivas. Focusing only on emotions, Srinivas failed to impress the needy audience with this film as much as he did with his previous films.

Like other commercial movies, this movie will not be done with two or three songs or four fights. Anupama and Sanjay’s story spans over a decade, from the year 2000 to 2010, divided into seven chapters.

What impresses?

The changing shades of Anupama and Sanjay over the years were shown really well. The story is grounded and feels quite relatable. Kalyani Malik’s music is the heartbeat of the film, which gave life to the love story. The visuals were excellently shot too.

What doesn’t impress?

The story can feel lagging when transitioning from one chapter to another. If the slow-motion scenes had been removed, the pacing would have been crisper. It would have been better if there was more focus on the story while telling about the characters and the events.