Love To Love (2013) Telugu Movie Review

Review : Love To Love – Disappointing Love

Release date : July 26, 2013

ReviewPicha Rating : 2/5

Director : K Manikandan

Producer : Ashok Vallabhaneni

Music Director : HariHaran

Starring : Arya, Shriya Saran

Love To Love is a Telugu dubbed version of a 2010 Tamil movie Chikku Bukku. Hero Aarya is one actor who has decent market in Tollywood. He is now back with yet another entertainer titled Love To Love. This film has hit the screens today and let’s see how it is.

Most of the evergreen love stories have shared a strong connection with journeys. The romantic travelogues of all seasons like ‘Titanic’, ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and ‘Jab We Met’ have been regarded as the best on this genre till the date. Manigandan’s debut directorial ‘Love To Love’ slightly touches this line, but takes a different route in its narrative style. 

Story :-

Arjun (Arya) is a DJ for a radio station in London, who is sent to India to handle an urgent family matter -- the house in which his father grew up is being put up for sale by his relatives and he has to recover it at any cost. On his way to his hometown in Karaikudi, he runs into Anu (Shriya), an MBA student also from London who is travelling to Madurai to see her ailing father, after their flight gets cancelled. Naturally, love blossoms but there is also a parallel track that shows the love story of Arjun's father. 

Plus Points :-

You’ll experience the paradise right before your eyes with Gurudev’s spellbinding embellishment of visuals across scenic locales of London, Chikmagalore, Coorg and Karaikudi. On the dot, if there is one perfect reason to get you intact with the show, the brilliant visuals stand out as a substantial ingredient. On the performance level, Arya looks energetic, confident and his delineation as Sekar is effective. Shriya Saran, apart from looking ravishing, strides effortlessly, emoting to what is required. Manigandan deserves appreciation for her portrayal that breaks the clichés in many aspects. Newcomer Preetika impresses with her exquisitely graceful looks. She grabs our attention through her innocuous nature, particularly with the scenes involving the school inspection. The complete drama involving Arya, Preetika and school kids tickles the funny bones. 

Songs are OK. Specifically, the song Chikku Bukku and Zara Zara stand out. Choreographers deserve special praise and so does the costume designers.   

Minus Points :-

Sluggish screenplay turns out to be one of the blatant minuses of this film. What should have been a gripping tale of romance loses its pace halfway. The conflicts aren’t established properly. The main drawback of the film is the narrative imbalance. The flashback sequences are narrated through the lead characters’ glimpses on diary. But the lack of continuity during second hour trivializes the intensity. 

Comedian Santhanam doesn’t get much prominence and has very little scope to amuse us. Praveen Mani’s background score could have been better. V.T. Vijayan disappoints with loads of discontinuities between the shots. A smooth transition between the shots would have helped for better output.

Technical Aspects :-

Screenplay is bad it lacks narrative balance. Editing should have been better. Cinematography is good and the locations are good to watch. Album songs are OK. Background score doesn't elevate the emotions much. Direction is bad.

Verdict :-

Love To Love is a high-fashioned flick with luxurious realms of technical aspects and boasts of some good performances by actors as well. The movie has a neat twist in the end, and its flashback and forward story-telling style is remarkably precise. It is done with elan, though the content is a little too coincidental, and at times awfully silly. The film often becomes slow-paced and director Manikandan could have literally focalized into this attribute diminishing certain illogical traits. You can safely ignore the film this weekend and wait for it to come on TV.

ReviewPicha Rating : 2/5
Reviewed by ReviewPicha Team