Tej I Love U – Movie Review

What’s it about!
 
When his pedda nanna throws him out of his family over an incident, Tej (Sai Dharam Tej) moves to Hyderabad and starts a musical band. He meets Nandini (Anupama) who comes to India on a work. In course of fifteen days, he falls in love with her and also impresses her. But an accident changes everything. She he wakes up with memory loss of whatever happened between them. What happens next?
 
Analysis
 
People say some directors make same film many times, and some directors present every movie of theirs whatever be the plotline in similar way. Both the observations are not entirely true but it is a fact that some directors repeat their favorite shots, favorite camera angle, and set up scenes in same fashion thereby giving impression that they are rehashing the same story again and again.
 
Director Karunakaran, who has made some fine romantic dramas in the past like ‘Toli Prema’, ‘Darling’ and ‘Ullasamga Utsahamga’, has presented his latest romantic drama ‘Tej I Love You’ in a way that gives us the impression that he remixed his old movies even though the plot line is far from previous plotlines.
 
Not much has changed in way of presenting a hero or heroine or writing the characterizations for them. He’s just repeating the same idea with slight variations, one may feel. Here the basic idea for the plot is seemed to be inspired by 2012 Hollywood movie “The Vow” starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. However, Karunakaran has not entirely taken it, some portion from it has been used. Rest of the sequences, scenes and narration he has repeated what he has been doing from long time – hero’s family bonding, hero’s equation with his sister, hero with fascination for music, heroine first rejecting the hero’s proposal and later falling for him and finally a family sentiment drama. Some of these or wholly, we have seen in the movies like ‘Tholi Prema’, ‘Balu’, ‘Yuvakudu’ or ‘Vasu’.
 
However, he has tried to bring out Sai Dharam Tej from mass hero image and presented him as romantic hero. Sai Dharam has put in honest effort for this movie and his role. The director has also brought in good performance from the beautiful actress Anupama Parameshwaran. Among other actors, Prudhvi, Pavithra Lokesh and Viva Harsha make an impression.
 
Generally, Karunakaran comes up with best music track but “Andamaina Chandamama” is the only catchy song in this film. That is another drawback. Cinematography and production values are decent.

A character in the film scolds one guy that he is kind of person who eats biryani with pappu. Similarly, this film also has that odd mix at certain places.
 
Bottom-line: Sai Dharam Tej has put in best efforts to woo youth generation with this romantic drama but the director Karunakaran’s old ideas scenes have not helped him. The writer-director’s lack of fresh thinking is a major issue with this jaded movie.