Hello movie review: Akhil Akkineni film lacks desperation, intensity

Hello
Cast: Akhil Akkineni, Kalyani Priyadarshan
Director: Vikram K Kumar
Rating: 2/5

A life changing phone call just before a phone is stolen. A number that would have been the start of a beautiful relationship is now lost forever, or is it? This is how Akhil Akkineni’s Hello begins. The number is lost, but two friends remain in each other’s lives through memories.

There is something so innocent and pure about friendships between children. There is no motive or objective behind it -- Hello captures this, and the pain of being separated from a close friend. While kids usually tend to move on and make new friends, Chinu (Akhil) and Junnu (Kalyani) don’t seem to be able to forget their friendship.

They reminisce about time spent together and try to find each other. What the two don’t realize is the fact that as adults, they know each other. Junnu is actually Priya, a girl from an upper middle class family, and Chinu, is now Avinash.

It sounds really sweet doesn’t it? It did seem so in the beginning, especially when we see the protagonists as children. Post that, everything seemed lacklustre. The lack of chemistry between Avinash and Priya ensures that the intensity is missing from the friendship, which is the film’s undoing.

It is a good story told well but the film doesn’t leave an impression due to lack of credible performances. When Avinash misses his childhood friend Junnu, it is believable. Same goes for Priya missing Cheenu. However, when the two are together, the sparkle goes missing.

While it would have been interesting to see the film consider the hurdles in their relationship as enough cause, the filmmaker adds an external conflict. The need for action in the film is a force fit. Yes, the stunt sequences are good, but they do not belong in this storyline and neither does humour which has been introduced to showcase Akhil Akkineni as a mass hero.

And as this is a love story, filmmaker just has to introduce the tired old cliché: “The world conspires to bring together people who love each other”. The film is trying too hard and nowhere is it more apparent than in the climax, which feels staged.

In the end, the music that connects these two -- a violin piece -- is the best takeaway from the film because that one piece of melody has more emotional depth than the entire