‘Happy Days’ Review: A Nostalgic Retreat

Film: Happy Days
Rating: 3.75/5
Cast: Varun, Nikhil, Rahul, Vamshi, Tamanna, Gayatri Rao, Sonia, Monali, Kamalini etc
Dance: Swarna, Noble, Prem Rakshit
Camera: C Vijaya Kumar
Lyrics: Vanamali, Veturi, Venkatesh Patwari
Music: Mickie J Mayor
Direction-Production-Screenplay-Dialogue: Sekhar Kammula
Release Date: 28th September 2007 (USA)
                         2nd October (India)

It’s like watching a college campus video. It’s the pleasant story of boys and girls studying in a college. Sekhar Kammula once again touches the receptive channels of the audiences pleasantly.

Story:
Four boys Chandu (Varun) , Rajesh (Nikhil), Tyson (Rahul) and Shankar (Vamshi Krishna) and four girls Madhu, Appu, Sravanthi and Sangeetha are the new admissions in an engineering college, CBIT to specify. The entire story is how the relations develop among these bys and girls in the four years of their studies. The love, hatred, happy days and sorrow moments and all fall on the silver screen till the grand finale. That’s only for watching but cannot be read.

Performances:
The performances of all young boys and girls are impressive. The main heroine Tamanna is fresh and fair. Her body language resembles Sada to some extent. Gayatri Rao also did a fair job as Appu. Sonia, who played Sravanthi is hot and ‘intersting’. Monali Choudary who played Sangeetha is sufficient.

Coming to guys, Rahul did a lot and his diction is typical. Nikhil and Chandu are appropriate to their roles. Vamshi did his best.

Kamalini Mukherjee appears in the role of a glamorous English teacher and that’s just for a pleasant break.

The entire credit in giving characterizations for all these artistes goes to Sekhar Kammula. He is the man behind carving this long story of four pairs. Screenplay matters very big in such films and the responsibility falls immense in making audiences sit to the seats till the end.

Two songs Arare… and Paadametu Paduthunnaaa… are very interesting. Lyrics by Veturi, Vanamali and Venkatesh Patwari are good. Micki J Mayor’s music has a separate mark for itself.

The film is good on a whole but it pleases only the audiences who are aware of campus education. It is not a right dish for typical mass audiences anyway. It appeals for multiplex audiences, educated crowds and above all for US-Andhrites.

Analysis:
Don’t miss the film for the amount of nostalgia it has. One can go back to his lovely college days. And for students it’s a lively celluloid story where they can see themselves on screen. All the feelings from college humor to romance to sentiment…everything can be seen in the flow of 2 and half pleasant hours. The film proved to be an entertainer by the stuff in it. But if you expect some non stop humor and rib tickling scenes, that’s not there. It’s a neat film made in Kammula’s style. The artistes are new but they have excelled in their roles. The film is worth watch by all sets of audience.

Fist half of the film goes with introduction of characters. Second half appears to be little dragged but that’s what happens when four love stories are to be concluded. The scenes sometimes are routine in second half and seldom has the tempo graph suffered ups and downs.

(SiraSri can be reached at [email protected])