Hello Premistara is a love story with many twists and turns. It is directed by Rajkumar, produced by Puri Jagannath and stars his younger brother, Sairam Shankar in the main lead.
Plot Arvind and Nandini, a TV anchor, meet by chance and fall for each other. Her parents give the nod for the wedding, and all is well with the world. Except one thing-Nandini repeatedly meets Arjun, Arvind's unstable but identical half-brother and thinks him to be Arvind. Arjun falls for Nandini too, and will go to any means to get her for himself.
Story, Screenplay and Direction This is Shankar's third movie after 143 and Danger. It has reasonably good screenplay and for a first attempt, the direction is passable. Some characters like Arvind's absent-minded sister, his fun-loving friend (Suneel), Nandini's deaf father who, apart from providing some laughs, push the movie forward and are used well in the plot. The two contrasting characters, Arvind and Arjun, are well written.
What the direction-editing needed was some tautness. There is only one song that is both catchy and its picturization is good. And finally, Shankar could have done a better job, especially towards the end. Dubbing is out of sync is several places, mostly in the first half and in two songs.
The thing with movies like this-once we figure the story out, we know what's going to happen in the end. So the second half has to be strong. And Hello Premistara doesn't disappoint here. It doesn't drag, on the contrary, it runs, as though the director was afraid to let it drag even a little. With a hasty conclusion and a dash of humor, the movie ends with a signature feel-good appeal.
Performances Sairam Shankar manages to juggle two roles with some effort, and as Arvind, he suits the part very well. But he undeniably has a long way to go. Shiela is raw too, and does whatever is required of her. Chandramohan, Sana, Sudha as the parents are pros now as is Sudeepa as a comic little sister. Suneel gets to humor the viewers a lot, a task in which the dialogues help him immensely. Vijayakumar as a hapless grandfather is convincing.
Music and Dance 'Ninna Monna' is sure to top charts. The rest are mediocre to the core.
Last Word The movie certainly would have felt interesting in the scripting level. If the direction and main lead was better/with bigger names, then it would have been very appealing. But unfortunately, bigger names don't tackle subjects like this, which is a shame. They should. For now, this movie is watchable. A well-woven plot, average performances and middling music-nothing more or less.