Pournami: All days are not Sundays

ManasantaNuvve, NeeSneham, Okkadu, Varsham, NuvvostananteNenoddantana. None of these films actually released on a Sunday, but it is their critical and commercial acclaim which made MSRaju experience the Sunday-milieu all throughout. His latest release, Pournami, proves that, ‘All days are not Sundays’.

The First 10 minutes…..
The classical dance, ‘Bharatanatyam’, has been bringing rains for the harvest in a fictional village. Every twelve years, the dance has been performed in the temple, by the women of the respected family. This tradition has lived since 400 hundred years. Now, it is the turn of Subhramanium’s daughter, Pournami, to perform.

Analysis of the Rest…..
Through the history, Tradition and Faction never went together. Pournami attempts at mixing the two; and falls flat. MSRaju’s story and screenplay evoked neither the brilliance of the tradition nor the brutality of the faction. After the promising premise (the first 10 minutes), a strange idiocy seeps into the narrative. This is one of those many films which boast that ‘Indian tradition is great’, but does not convincingly prove it. No doubt, the idea of using ‘dance’ as a means of narrative is very challenging. Director Prabudeva’s perspective that every move in nature is related to dance is fully agreed. But the execution by the director and the performance of all the actors lacked the soul and convincing factor (with exception of Charmi’s performance).
Prabhas, in the first few reels, is a complete misfit. In attempting to play a playful attitude, he stumbles into over-acting. Anyway, the action sequences in the later part of the film save him from more awkwardness. Owing to his good physic, his grace in action sequences is undoubtedly unmatched. But other than a few fights and songs, Prabhas has no flesh to his role.
Trisha fails to deliver right from the first shot and further proves that she lacks the potential to carry forward a spineless role. May I ask the film-makers, if this girl ever knew anything about dance? She played the classical dancer’s role with the body-language of a bad dancer (or more appropriately a bar dancer).
Sindhu Tholani, though in a minuscule role, shows her spark. Rahul Dev, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Chandra Mohan and others are utterly wasted.
Like a pearl on the dirty and slimy sea-bed, it is Charmi who brings some console to the unimpressive acting department of this film. She is apt for the role of Chandralekha and her body language was amazing. Her entry scene, where she walks in the market carrying vegetables, will find appreciation from most connoisseurs of natural subtleties. Her childish mannerisms are authentic and awesome --- watch her carelessness in pulling her finger while applying ‘kajal’ to her lower eye-lid.
Technically, this film is a big let down. The cinematography (Venkat Prasad) is way below MSRaju’s standards. The editing (Krishna Reddy) is sloppy. The art-direction (Ashok) is not fresh. The background score (DeviSri Prasad) is good, but on a comparison, Mani Sharma’s score in Deviputrudu was more riveting. Most songs are forced into the narrative. After MSRaju’s string of quality films, this film seems to go down even in terms of his production values.

Recommendation: A big NO.