World Famous Lover – Movie Review

World Famous Lover Movie Review: Lacks soul

What’s it about!

Gautam who left a cushy job in a corporate company to pursue his dream of writing books strangely doesn’t get ideas to write. Is he suffering from writer’s block? We don’t know. He sits idle at home, watching cartoon shows on iPad, smoking cigarettes, always roaming without a shirt. Not even caring about her feelings, he makes love to his live-in girlfriend Yamini (Raashi Khanna). Frustrated with his attitude, she walks out of his life and breaks up. Gautam then starts penning a novel. He imagines about being a coal mine worker Seenayya, a story he wrote for his novel. He also imagines what would have been his life had he take up a job in Paris as his former boss suggested. Do these two imagined stories have any impact on his life or do they make any difference to his relationship with Yamini?

Analysis

The ideas explored in ‘World Famous Lover’ seem interesting on paper. The ideas are: should a writer suffer enough or go through the emotions of the characters he/she writes to bring out the best on paper? How and when would you realize in a love relationship who is sacrificing to save the bond, you or your partner? To present these ideas, director Kranthi Madhav has employed the trick of presenting one main love story (Vijay Deverakonda and Raashi Khanna) and two subplots (a story in the backdrop of Yellendu coal mine involving Vijay Deverakonda-Catherine -Aishwarya Rajesh, and a romance between Vijay Deverakonda and Izabelle in Paris) which are imagined stories of the writer’s novel. However, these ideas have not translated well on to the screen. In fact, they turned out to be convoluted.

The novelty factor of the writer imagining his own character’s life doesn’t add much value after a point either.

The basic romantic thread between Vijay Deverakonda and Raashi Khanna is flawed. Why did a seemingly good-natured Gautham, who made a sacrifice for his lover Yaamini to save her job at the office, become such a careless and violent guy after they start living as live-in partners? There is no explanation. It turns out that it was made Vijay Deverakonda into such a person to present him as a guy with anger issues, and make roam without a shirt just to pander to his fans. Nothing explains beyond this. Or is it hangover of Vijay’s ‘Arjun Reddy’?

Since this basic line itself is trite, the rest of the episodes don’t give a high. The film, in fact, further nosedives after the interval and ends much like ‘Arjun Reddy’. 

Vijay Deverakonda has portrayed this role in the best possible manner. Though he seems repetitive, his various getups and styles are good. He is a hoot in the avatar of a coal miner. Aishwarya Rajesh steals the show as a wife. She deserves all the accolades. Raashi Khanna, Catherine, and Izabelle are apt to their roles. 

The film has rich looks. Gopi Sundar’s music is a huge disappointment. As a writer, Kranthi Madhav has written some good lines here and there. 

Bottom line: The basic story of ‘World Famous Lover’ itself is flawed and lacks a soul to connect with.