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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Zing is missing in this old wine

Shivaji and Honeyrose in Aalayam

Film: Aalayam

Cast: Sivaji, Honeyrose

Direction: Muthyala Subbaiah

Aalayam here in this film is a huge home run by an old man played by director KB Tilak. The family has countless members, sons, grandsons, great grandsons, servants and their children and all of them are one happy lot. The old man’s granddaughter falls in love with one of their employees and the young man is humiliated and kicked out of the house. The couple elope and never return. After decades Sivaji, a great grandson takes the onus on himself to bring his aunt and her family back for the grandfather’s 100th birthday celebration and he succeeds. Just when everything seems to be going well, Sivaji’s uncle, still seething with vindictiveness wants to take revenge for the insult he endured years ago. Whether he succeeds in his mission or not forms the crux of the film.

At times it’s hard to comprehend whether this drama has been made for the small tube or the big screen. The plus point of the film is that it celebrates the concept of joint family which has become a rarity but the narrative is particularly weak. Brahmanandam keeps the mild jokes flowing at a steady pace. Sivaji and Honeyrose are okay but they hardly act as catalyst to the story and are used for a couple of duets. The dialogues are average and the ending is tame. Since the general outline is already clear, the film doesn’t move you. There are no emotional highs or lows that are a characteristic of Muthyala Subbaiah’s films. A routine family drama that lacks resonance.

Y. Sunita Chowdhary

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