Movie review 'Yennamo Yetho': The 'Ala Modalaindi' remake fails to impress
Cast: Gautham Karthik, Rakul Preeth Singh, Nikesha Patel, Prabhu
Director: Ravi Thyagarajan
Rating: **
Synopsis: Gautham and Nithya meet and bond over mutual hatred for their partners who have ironically married each other. Friendship naturally turns into love for the hero, who upon discovering that his friend-lover is engaged, gets into a rebound relationship with Kavya. A series of complications later, true love emerges
Yennamo Yetho begins on an ominous note. Prabhu in all his gangster glory ambushes our hero Gautham Karthik, kidnaps him and literally forces him first sing, and then relate his love story at gun point. Wait, what? Exactly. That is the only moment when someone can actually connect with a scene in the movie, because you come away feeling like you’ve been forced to watch this film on gunpoint too.
During the course of the disjointed narration, we discover that the protagonists Gautham (Gautham Karthik) and Nithya (Rakul Preeth Singh) are both jilted lovers, recovering from bad break ups. In a cruel and mildly amusing coincidence, their exes end up marrying each other, creating the perfect meet-cute for Gautham and Nithya, who bond and become friends over alcohol and a drunken dance. Despite Nithya’s frequent shopping trips, her taking jibes at Gautham’s job in a TV station and even calling him gay, the two develop a warm friendship, which blossoms into love for the hero. He discovers she is engaged and decides to move on, and gets into a relationship (most likely a rebound), with Kavya (Nikesha Patel).
That is unfortunately when Cupid strikes Nithya, who breaks off her engagement and comes back to Gautham, who by then, is almost engaged to Kavya. Whew! What follows are a series of complications, a friendly mother who gives her boy some good life lessons and a Tuffy-equivalent mutt (remember Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?) who are instrumental in bringing the couple together.
Despite being the remake of Ala Modalaindi, which was a hit in Telugu, Yennamo Yedho fails to impress. Gautham Karthik shows potential and charm, but is wasted in his namesake’s character, which seems poorly etched. As Nithya, Rakul is the quintessential girl next door, who happens to be gorgeous with a heart of gold. Her performance seems too eager to please and the chemistry between the actors as friends is commendable, while as lovers, is close to non-existent. Nikesha Patel delivers what is expected of her. The comedy too seems to be too forced and barring the Appatucker song, the tunes by Imman seem run of the mill. Prabhu, although hilarious only in parts, seems to be the only saving grace of the film.
