Sammohanam — A Breezy Love Story of Two Different Worlds
Indraganti Mohan Krishna is one of the sensible directors of contemporary Telugu Cinema. He is one filmmaker who does not invest his faculties in star power, lackluster story, mindless comedy, or over the top action sequences. He believes in the art of cinema and he makes sure his conviction translates into the visual imagery on the screen. He likes to explore different genres of cinema and does not like being stereotyped. He has no qualms in failing in his new attempt because he takes joy in experimenting with stories and avers that it’s better to fail in an experiment than succeeding in making a formulaic movie. After making a variety of movies like Ashta Chamma, Golconda High School, Gentleman, Ami Thumi, he collaborates with Sudheer Babu and Aditi Rao for Sammohanam. Produced by Sridevi Movies, Sammohanam has Sudheer Babu and Aditi Rao in the lead roles.
Vijay (Sudheer Babu), a cartoonist and children storybook writer, scouts for a publisher who can publish his work. He is an independent and emotional soul. Being an introvert, he spends his childhood, gazing at the stars and drawing cartoons in his leisure. He makes a career in fine arts, eventually. He has low regard for the movie industry and opines that its mere foolishness to consider actors as larger than life personalities as they are merely ordinary people like everyone. He is surrounded by a loving family that is educated, sensible, and understanding. Sarvesh (Naresh), Arjun’s father, is an avid movie buff. He is just so immersed in the world of cinema that he cries over an emotional scene, in a movie, even while watching it for the 50th time. His passion for cinema is so much that he can't lose the chance of acting in a 5-minute role in a movie and willing to rent his house to a film unit to shoot for 20 days, in exchange for it. Though he has a clash of opinion with Vijay, with respect to the cinema, they both don’t mind discussing them on the dining table just to know each other’s points of view. His mother (Pavitra Lokesh) is a cooking expert. She offers ladoos to her family anytime, as an embodiment of her love and affection.
The actual story starts when the family gets starstruck by the film unit’s actress’ Sameera (Aditi Rao) charm and svelte. Her aura even makes the dispassionate Vijay goes weak in the knee at the sight of her. Knowing that Vijay is well versed with Telugu, she appoints him to get her Telugu dialogues right, correcting her linguistics. In the process, he gets closer to her. Although his opinion about the film industry doesn’t change, his intuition says that she is an independent girl who would not compromise anything for self-respect. The romance blossoms between the pair soon to stop dead. From here on, a couple of misunderstanding kick start, owing to the contrasting background of the parties and how they get resolved forms the rest of the story.
Sammohanam is a fairy tale kind of love story between two people from different worlds. This is easily relatable to a fable I read, where a king falls in love with an ordinary girl, being mesmerized with her charm and elegance. The narration of Sammohanam is subtle, poetic, tender, and artistic.
The story shows us a life of a mature and strong girl surviving in the movie industry fighting against all the odds. It shows us the predicaments, the insecurities, the obligations, etc of the female actresses in the industry. The movie attempts to break the notions and perceptions that common people have about the cinema world and once again reminds us that there is a dark side hidden behind their flamboyant glamour image we see on the screen.
The movie also comfortably takes a dig at a plethora of cinema and society trends the fanciness of north actress in Telugu films, the insipid stories and dramatic scenes in the movies, the casting couch, the clickbait website links, the dishonest mindset of the film personalities, the abject lack of youngsters knowledge on literature, the contemporary romantic relationships etc.
The performances of the actors are subtle. Sudheer Babu and Aditi Rao are at their natural best. Naresh gets a well-written role. His talent is fully utilized. Pavithra Lokesh, too gets a strong role, as a mother, who can understand the family and anchor their emotional vulnerability.
The humor in the movie flows with the story and is rarely overboard. Rahul Ramakrishna, as hero’s friend, is impressive in the limited screen presence. The dialogues in the movie are good, reflecting reality. The breeziness in love is complemented by the ultrafine visuals and aesthetics.
Overall, Sammohanam is a feel-good love affair, that has sense and sensibility and is an easy-breezy watch for its nuances and intricacies.
