Sammohanam - Review

There is a scene in the movie where Naresh, who plays Sudheer babu's dad, blurts out at his friends that Ghajini is a rip off of Momentum and many movies are ripoffs of English, French and Korean movies. What made me wonder then is, why in the name of Julia Roberts, did Mohanakrishna Indraganti ripped off Notting Hill. Unlike Ghajini, which borrows the concept from Momentum, Sammohanam is and also feels like an honest remake of Notting Hill, except that it is not an official one.

That said, Sammohanam is a good movie. It has many things going it's way. Firstly, music by Vivek Sagar is a huge plus. Movie has some lengthy sequences which would have easily become boring if not for the brilliant and pleasant bgm. The songs are brilliant too.

Secondly, Aditi Rao Hydari, the Telugu girl finally arrives in Telugu cinema and in a splendid way. She fitted the role of damsel in distress to the T. She speaks Telugu too. She looked totally like a star and also could convey the vulnerability attached to her role. Lastly she looked beautiful. Sudheer gets a boy next door role and he does it with so much ease and maturity. His chemistry with Aditi and his acting in Terrace scene are spot on. Naresh gets a meatier role. Though he goes overboard here and there in first half, look out for his reentry in pre-climax. That is outright hilarious.

Movie has a good feel most of the time, except when Mohanakrishna's "chadastham" makes its way to the screen in few scenes. The movie's only problem is the pace. My own personal problem with the movie is that all the good characters are good and all the bad characters are very poorly written bad, be it Aditi's ex or Nandu.

Sammohanam has very good music, very good actress, decent cast and three to four well-conceived scenes. Even if you have watched Notting Hill, you will still like this.