Tharagathi Gadhi Daati Review - A generic yet enjoyable teenage romance that could've done with more depth

3/5

Story:

Krishna (Kittu) is an introverted 16-year-old in Rajahmundry, whose parents Gowri and Shankar run a coaching centre. Kittu, a student with decent academic credentials, is keen to make a career out of his culinary skills. It's love-at-first-sight for Kittu when he meets Jasmine near a mobile accessories shop in his town. It turns out that Jasmine soon joins the coaching centre run by Kittu's parents and sparks fly between the two. The relationship loses track amidst trust issues, but their friends Madhu and Ravi chip in with timely help.

Review:

Tharagathi Gadhi Daati, the Telugu remake of TVF's FLAMES, is a show that's hard to dislike. The setup is bathed in familiarity comprising staple tropes of a teenage romance - a much-in-love couple, a third wheel in the relationship, a lover's tiff, some friction and a happy resolution. Right from the career choices to friendships to relationships and the turbulence in the equation with parents, the treatment of the drama and the conflicts in the lives of the teenagers remain featherlight and understated. With the happy-go-lucky vibe, eye-catchy cinematography and flavourful dialogues, Tharagathi Gadhi Daati prefers instant gratification to depth.

The show encapsulates the madness, the little joys and confusions of teenage years with a pinch of innocence, humour and sarcasm. The situations are borderline silly but are funny given the age group of its pivotal characters. The guy tries to use a mathematical equation to propose a girl. Another girl creates a fictional character to make her love interest feel jealous. An insecure classmate tries to play the party-pooper with a meme that nearly destroys a couple's relationship. A guy lies to a girl about a tuition class so that she comes home to meet him. Many such cute-little nothings feel like a trip down memory lane.

Beyond the teenage romance angle, a few characters are well-etched, be it the reserved Kittu, outgoing Ravi, the tomboyish Madhu and an autocratic teacher Shankar. It's a relief to see introverted, shy male protagonists like Kittu. Their inner turbulence offers more scope for filmmakers to create quirky situations and also helps audiences root for them. Krishna, here, is an extension of Harshith Reddy's act in aha's rural comedy Mail. His loudmouth childhood buddy Ravi, played by a fantastic Nikhil Devadula, is the yin to his yang, a character that surprisingly has more to offer to the show beyond its lead. The fast-food stall that serves as the backdrop to their conversations adds to the contour of the setting.

There are some finely crafted moments where the generational disconnect between the parents and children is explored - the contrasting reactions of the father and the son to an overly dramatic scene from a yesteryear Hollywood film being a prime example. The director extracts humour from unexpected sequences, like the one where the parents pay condolences to the family of a relative who's no more. These flashes of brilliance are only momentary though. The father-son clash over the career choice, for instance, is extremely generic. A part of the blame is with the show's 100-minute duration, which doesn't give the filmmaker enough bandwidth to go beyond the obvious and lend some context to the subplots. The show is a collage of few fleeting glimpses of the character's worlds (which is of course a narrator's choice) and is too conscious about sustaining its 'feel-good vibe.

It's irritating when modern-day composers time and again use AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraja numbers in the name of nostalgia and tribute to fill up their background scores. While it doesn't hurt to listen to the songs of Rahman or Ilaiyaraja any given day, it also doesn't hurt to make some effort to be original. The scenic locales of Cheerala are passed off as Rajahmundry, but Monish Bhupathiraju's cinematography is instantly appealing and contributes to the breezy mood of the show.

In terms of performances, Ramana Bhargav makes the most of his autocratic father act though the 'life is not a joke' line gets too repetitive and tedious beyond a point. Snehal Kamat is cast aptly as the tomboyish Madhu, while Payal Radhakrishna doesn't have much to do beyond her good looks. Bindu Chandramouli makes a mark in a brief role. It feels like director Mallik Ram's hands were tied in a bid to stay true to the original. Yet, if something helps Tharagathi Gadhi Daati rise above its pitfalls, it's the sparkling dialogue by an in-form Kittu Vissapragada that is situational and also has a recall value.

Verdict:

Tharagathi Gadhi Daati works best as an inoffensive, feel-good one-time watch. The situations and the premise of the teenage romance feel immensely familiar and predictable. The refreshing humour, winning performances, casual camaraderie of its lead characters may strike a chord with the young audience.