Hora Hori - Movie Review

What's it about

Bhasaveswar (Chaswa) sets his evil eyes on the dainty Mythili (Daksha), who happens to be sister of an ACP. His wicked intentions fall flat when Mythili refuses to marry him. Angered by her refusal, Bhasaveswar kills her groom on the wedding day. Adding to this he stops all proposals that she gets. Mythili loses her mental balance and stops conversing with everyone.

For a change Mythili’s brother sends her to Agumbe in Karnataka. Skanda (Dileep) is a happy go lucky guy in Agumbe, who lives with her grandmother (Seema) and runs a printing press for living. Mythili is impressed by his soft nature and she gradually falls in love with him. Does their love succeed? Does Bhasaveswar resurface? All this form the rest of the movie…

Analysis

One of the filmmakers who gave life to the genre of love stories in Tollywood is Teja with his back to back hits in early 2000's. Chitram, Nuvvu Nenu and Jayam not only introduced new stars to Tollywood, they also created a craze for him. His stories were simpler ones but they struck a chord with the audiences as he mixed right emotions with involving narration. But he soon started repeating himself that made him lose all glory. Three years after his last release, Neeku Naaku Dash Dash, Teja comes up with a new movie titled Hora Hori, which is again love story with rural milieu and new faces.

Unfortunately he still seems to have stuck in time-warp, as Hora Hori proves that it is rehashed version of his own super hit movie, Jayam (2002), albeit minor changes like heroine suffering from fits and mental stress. The set-up is new but narration isn't.

One must say, the beautiful locations of Agumbe in Shimoga district of Karnataka has added beauty to the overall picture and it is also filmed beautifully by cameraman Deepak Bhagavant. If only, Teja has added such novelty to the story and narration as well, it would have put him back in the league.

One can't fathom how can he still create archaic scenes where two village heads indulge in a fight for setting up a web browsing center and involve in games that whoever types fast on the keyboard will be allowed to setup the center. Printing press comedy and an US returned guy training the youth to type fast are also so very 80ish.

Despite clichéd some sequences truly create interest especially the pre-interval episodes. After the interval, the drama is so mundane and eventually ends in a predictable manner.

What works in the movie? Cinematography and music.

Regarding performances, Newcomer Dilip is suited to the character of an innocent village boy and he reminds us Uday Kiran of Nuvvu Nenu. His acting skills are okay. Not only is Daksha beautiful, this Tamil actress has a striking screen presence. Added to that her performance is also appreciable but her voice is rough. Debutant villain Chaswa comes up with competent performance. Raghava has provided some comedy with his double meaning dialogue - Laddulodi. Writer MVS Haranath Rao and Malayalam actress Seema are good. 

The main technician who gets more brownie points for this film is cinematographer Deepak Bhagavant. The constantly rain soaked locations of Agumbe are filmed evocatively beautiful.

Music by Kalyani Koduri is effective. "Nee Aa..Aaah", "Orey Orey.." , "Atu Itu Kani.." songs are nice tunes and also very pleasant on screen.

Even though it has thin plotline, the movie has inexcusable lengthy runtime. Pace of the movie is also slow in the second half. Last fight sequence is so amateurish. Despite all these drawbacks director Teja has shown some sparks here and there. Some sequences have shown his real talent.

Bottom-line:

Although it offers beautiful locations, rich frames and good music, Teja's Hora Hori is so predictable and looks like he cannot get Jayam out of his system.