The Family Star Review - A Pointlessly Loud Emotional Drama!

Ashwin Ram

The Family Star is a romantic drama starring Vijay Deverakonda and Mrunal Thakur in the lead roles. The Geeta Govindam combo reunites, a Parasuram directorial and the music is scored by Gopi Sunder.

 
Premise:
Vijay Deverakonda is a middle class man who lives by calculated budgets as he is financially responsible for his entire family. How the equation changes when Mrunal Thakur enters their house as an upstairs tenant, and the changes that follows is the crux of the story.

Writing/ Direction:
The film missed out on holding onto some of the basics, right from the beginning. You name the movie ‘The Family Star’ that portrays the life of a middle class man, but how can the audience believe he is one when you give him a heroic introduction. Not just his entry, even the follow-up character establishment scenes are so exaggerated, like the hair-thin Dosa made in CGI to show his budget control, and an over-the-top fight sequence to showcase his short-tempered attitude. There are four action stretches in total, and there won’t be any changes to the story if they are removed as whole bunches; they were absolutely pointless to the flow. Initial portions of Mrunal Thakur are delightful and gave some sort of hope, but again the screenplay went off-track with so many deviations by forcefully creating problems for Vijay Deverakonda’s family members. Vijay’s brother is shown as an alcoholic, no one cares about the character including the viewers, he could have been left as it is, but they tried to justify it with the lamest flashback ever. Interval high is very much there, and the story actually takes a good step forward. But unfortunately, again the focus goes for a toss in the second half with many ridiculous situations that are irrelevant for the subject, like the male prostitution scene at Times Square, suddenly going path-away by bringing in a politician in the pre-climax, etc. There are some cutely staged romantic moments in the latter half, and sadly they are watered down when the director tries to serve it as full meals. It was hard to connect with the egoistic love-hate relationship between the lead pair, hence there was no emotional attachment over the characters.

Performances:
Vijay Deverakonda does well and he is actually in the right stage of his career to portray such a character, but some parts of the execution feature him as a superstar, that drains out the values behind the intention. Mrunal Thakur shines yet again. She instantly captures the hearts with her subtle performance and sweet presence; she owns the little goodness that is there in the movie. Jagapathi Babu plays a business tycoon as usual, in a mindless character this time around. Vennela Kishore’s comedy doesn’t click to that extent, as the timing dialogues failed to bond well with the situations. The grandma character stood as a neat support till the end.

Technicalities:
Two songs namely ‘Nandanandanaa’ and ‘Madhuramu Kadha’ are pleasant, magic is missing in the rest. Worst background score by Gopi Sunder. Music at many places oppositely resonates the mood of the offered situation. The fight scenes are treated with random slogans and what not. Decent cinematography, not a fascinating work but the cameraman has provided what is apt for a love story. Poor editing with many jump cuts that disturb the continuity, and there are many unwanted scenes that lag beyond limits. Easily, the film could have been 40 minutes lesser. Fight sequences here give a mass film vibe, and with weak reasoning for the action portions, they land as nothing but big bummers.

Bottomline

There is a beauty in simple romantic stories packed by strong emotions. Despite having the scope, The Family Star tries to be so much more with needless exaggerations and grandeur, in which the basic thread is lost.

Rating - 2.25/ 5