Story:
Four friends decide to have an enjoyment trip at guest house. With great difficulty and a girl friend in tow they reach the guest house where strange things happen. Simultaneously people watch a movie in a theater where the movie going audience gets related to the going on in the cinema. What happens to the four friends at guest and why it happens and what’s happening in the theater and why its happening, is what the basic film is all about.
Performances:
Shankar steals the show with his live-wire energy and comedy timing. Although his RGV act is getting repetitive its still enjoyable as this is the first time he does it in a movie.
The remaining three males and girl (Swetha Pandit), don’t act completely amateurishly or are out rightly poor, but none manage to come up with that extra special thing that could make them standout and noticeable.
Positives:
Shankar
Background music
Editing
Negatives:
Repetitive
Predictable plot
Analysis:
Theater lo has an interesting premise where two stories are shown simultaneously in a very clever manner. The idea is good and execution too is alright but at the end of the day one is left with the question, shouldn’t they have done more with it?
The basic story-lines are simple and they are withheld together thanks to the great technical team of Cinematographer, Editor and Music director. First half especially is great example where such strong technical team, manage to make the audience sit through its entirety simply because of their exemplary skills. Even the most mundane and empty scenes, get a sense of excitement because of their work.
However the second half is below par and the flashback shown is very predictable and cliched. That kind of plot is done to death. So that leaves us with the second plot-line that’s running simultaneously which is fine. The final conclusion kind off undoes all the good that happened before it, but still fine because as an idea it’s a fresh one.
Over all Theater lo is passable because of the first half. Better second half could have helped it create a much bigger noise.
Background score by Chinna is excellent. He is the lifeline of the movie as is the editor of the film SR Sekkar. The editing makes the film move at a very fast pace without any lag despite lots of repetitive moments. Cinematography is good too and thanks to the production values (Producer Sai Kiran Mukkamala) it’s the film that doesn’t look like a low budget movie.
Bottom-line: For its interesting idea this one is watch-able once.
Rating: N/A