Urvasivo Rakshasivo Movie Review: The theme of exploring a live-in relationship as a precursor to marriage has been done with reasonable sensitivity

A remake of ‘Pyaar Prema Kaadhal’ (Tamil), the film under review sets the ball rolling right from the start. A middle-aged couple walks into a police station to complain about their missing son Sree (Allu Sirish). Cut to the past, Sree was in love with Sindhuja (Anu Emmanuel), his beautiful colleague. After they became friends, they hit it off at their upscale workplace in no time. They party hard and make out on a rainy night. The story takes a complicated turn when Sindhuja tells him that marriage is not her thing. The conservative-minded Sree has to grapple with unrequited love. But there is more to their relationship, as the second half shows.

Balancing entertainment and drama

The theme of exploring a live-in relationship as a precursor to marriage has been done with reasonable sensitivity. The overdose of double-meaning humour referring to sexual encounters could have been curtailed, though. But then, this is a masala film where comedians exist precisely to milk the bedroom jokes. Vennela Kishore saying things like life is a series of web series is fun to watch. Sunil and Posani Krishna Murali are seen as a tailor and a matchmaker, respectively.

The film comes into its own in the serious portions. Sindhu means it when she says she is not quarrelling with Sree. She wants him to know that she is not up for compromise. Writer-director Rakesh Sashii faithfully devotes himself to retaining her attributes from the Tamil original. The use of the father-daughter track is also not manipulative. Babloo Prithiveeraj plays Sindhu’s father.
After a point, the reactions of Sree’s mother (played by Aamani) become predictable. Even the conflict resolution is hackneyed somewhat because of the predictability. But you don’t complain much because of how convincing her arc is.

In the second half, the patching up happens a bit too fast. One wonders why Sindhu finds Sree so cute so fast. You also start wondering when did she fall in love with him so hard. These portions could have been written with better grip and craft. The film doesn’t make a brouhaha about the pitfalls of excessive individualism.

Achu Rjamani takes care of both the songs (barring one song) and the background score. He lends the film a sunny touch with ‘Dheemthanana’, ‘Kalisunte’ and ‘Seethakoka Chiluka’. The cinematography by Tanveer Mir is apt.

Allu Sirish has had a sputtering phase and it seems the film under review is going to give his career the much-needed boost. While the comedians do the heavy lifting in the non-serious portions, Sirish finds his feet during the serious segments. Anu Emmanuel comes out of the shadow of films like ‘Majnu’ and ‘Agnyaathavaasi’ to deliver a complex role.

Name: Urvasivo Rakshasivo

Director: Rakesh Sashi

Cast: Allu Sirish

Rating: 3 / 5