What’s it about?
Anvita Shetty (Anushka Shetty), a star chef in the United Kingdom, takes her mother (Jayasudha) to India to fulfill her last wish. Anivta, who is opposed to marriage, decides to conceive a baby through artificial insemination after her mother’s death.
Interestingly, she decides to choose the sperm donor herself after carefully examining all of the traits, which is pretty odd. She believes Sidhu Polishetty (Naveen Poishetty), a software professional with aspirations of becoming a stand-up comedian, is the appropriate man for her.
She approaches him and strikes up a friendship. He believes she is falling in love with him as she learns more about him and his life. But how will he respond when he discovers the truth and her actual intentions? And why is Anvitha opposed to marriage and want to have children through this way?
Analysis
It’s no longer shocking for Indians or Indian moviegoers to see a female protagonist who wants to start a family outside of marriage. However, the idea of a female protagonist actively seeking for a male sperm donor through a series of interviews is obviously a risky one for Telugu audiences.
P Mahesh Babu, whose previous film “Raa Raa Krishnayya” bombed at the box office, has come up with this daring concept. The story is not familiar to Telugu audiences, but the director has given it a treatment that is quite in the typical style of Telugu cinema. He sprinkled humor over the entire plot.
Comedy is a foolproof way to make people comfortable with potentially controversial topics. In “Miss Shetty Mr. Polishetty,” director P. Mahesh Babu does exactly that.
Once the film establishes the motivations behind the female protagonist’s choice to have a child via AI and seek a donor herself, it follows the standard formula of a male protagonist attempting to win the heart of a female protagonist. This sort of thing happens every time in most rom-coms. Here, the only difference is that our hero has no idea of the heroine’s true intentions. The whole process of the hero trying to woo her becomes fun watch for the audience. The stand-up performance by Naveen Polishetty is a bonus.
The first half of the film entertains well. There are some slack spots in the film’s second half. It wanders all over the place before finally getting to the point. There are also unnecessary sequences of masturbation attempts, Naveen’s jokes about his father and mother etc.
But the film ends with an emotional touch. Though predictable, the ending works.
Naveen Polishetty’s character, who shares the spotlight with Anushka Shetty’s, is the real show stopper in this film. His comedic timing and natural style of acting carry the film for the most part. Even Anushka Shetty shines in emotional scenes. She really comes into her own in the film’s last act. Murali Sharma and Tulasi play their roles well. Jayasudha’s role is more like a cameo appearance.
The technical and production values are neat though the music is a big disappointment.
Bottom line: “Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty” is a time pass watch. The film works mainly to the comedy portions and Naveen Polishetty’s acting. The film struggles with a slow pace in several spots, but it wraps up nicely.
Rating: 3/5
Rating:
Banner: UV Creations
Cast: Anushka Shetty, Naveen Polishetty, Jayasudha, Murali Sharma, Tulasi, Abhinav Gomatam, Sonia, and others
Music: Radhan
Cinematography: Nirav Shah
Editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Art Director: Rajeevan Nambiar
Producers: Vamsi-Pramod
Written and Directed by: Mahesh Babu P
Release Date: Sep 07, 2023
