Prema Desam Review: This Megha Akash, Trigun starrer feels like an old wine in a old bottle

2/5

Story

Arjun(Trigun) falls in love with a college student named Aadhya(Megha Akash). Right when he is all set to propose to her, he meets with a car accident. The one driving the car is Maya(Maya) who has a tragic past with Rishi(Ajay Kathurvar) but is forced to marry Shiva(Ramachandran). This car accident turns the lives of Arjun and Aadhya upside down. What are these two parallel stories and how are they connected to each other? To know the answers, you need to watch the film on the big screen.

Review

Prema Desam is one of the classics in south films. Two decades later, one more romantic drama with the same name has been released. So, the expectations on the film were high from the day the trailer was released. Directed by Srikanth, the film has some upcoming actors playing key roles. Prema Desam has two parallel tracks and one common connection between them.

The romantic track between Trigun and Megha Akash being the best one. This love track has some comedy and innocent moments that will be loved by the youth. Megha Akash looks adorable in her role and is the mainstay of the film. Her innocence and the way she performs with ease looks good. Trigun plays a key role and he was good as the hyper lover boy. Trigun's comedy timing was good in several scenes and he shared a good chemistry with Megha Akash.

On the other hand, the Bigg Boss fame, Ajay gets a meaty role and he suits his character. His lady love as the confused Maya also did well in her part. Their track had some routine moments but Ajay managed to hold things well with his sincere performance. Tanikella Bharani was quite good in the few scenes he appeared and yesteryear actres, Madhubala played a key character. She as the hero's mom was quite exuberant in her approach and played her role in a way that looked cool on screen.

Love stories more or less have the same story and everything depends on how the director narrates the plot. Director Srikanth's screenplay is good as he goes back and forth in the stories and creates an interest during the initial part of the film. Prema Desam gets derailed due to scenes filled with pedictablity. There is no freshness in the romance and this is where the film takes a beating. The romantic scenes, even though they look okay, give you a deja vu feeling all the time.

Mani Sharma has composed the music and his songs are decent. But his BGM could have been better to enhance the viewing. The camera work, lyrics and screenplay were decent but the editing is quite disappointing. There are so many scenes that could have been chopped off in both the halves because of which the film looks dragged. Also, the manner in which the conflict is handled is not that gripping.

Prema Desam had a good scope to create enough drama but the director failed to do so. There is not much depth in the emotions and the slow pace irritates you further. Megha Akash did not get much scope to perform in the film. There are several scenes that are left unanswered. More clarity in the story and the main conflict point should have been elevated even more to make the audience get engaged in the proceedings. But that did not happen and the proceedings bore the audience.

Verdict

On the whole, Prema Desam has a good plot which is not handled properly. The romance and performances are good but the routine plot, repeated scenes and lack of engaging drama derail the film in multiple areas. Those who love romantic dramas will like a few scenes but for the rest, the film does not live up to the iconic title and hype created.