Maa Anaiya
Worth a watch
After a long time, Dr. Rajsekar finally displays his histrionics as a lovable elder brother in Maa Anaiya by carrying the entire film on his shoulders. Meena performs the role of a responsible daughter-in-law with consummate ease while Vineeth, Bramaji and Chandramohan are at their best. Except for the lack of pace in the screenplay, the tale of a sacrificing brother to bring up his three younger brothers is still worth a look since it argues against the existance of ‘nuclear’ families.

Dr. Rajsekar is employed in a mill and his earnings are unable to match the growing needs of his family ,three brothers and grandmother. He falls in love with his owner’s (Nasser) daughter Deepti Bhatnagar. When she discloses her intention to separate his family, he walks out of her life and decides to remain a bachelor. He does odd jobs to raise his family. Bramaji and Vineeth are succesful in their studies, the former becomes a police officer and the latter a doctor.

Earlier Rajsekar had helped his friend (Devan) monetarily and Devan had promised to give his daughter (Meena) to Rajsekar while they were in their teens. But an affluent Devan on a visit to the village, rejects the alliance when Rajsekar reminds him about the promise. Rajsekar enrolls himself as Meena’s driver and manages to win her heart. Later, Bramaji is married to Rukmini, daughter of Chandramohan and the brothers stay together unitedly. Rajsekar promises to leave his family if Nasser agrees to the marriage of his brother Vineeth to his other daughter Maheswari. But Vineeth is not interested in marriage when his elder brother is still unmarried. In the end, Nasser repents and all the brothers lead a happy life.

As for the music, most of the tunes are repeated by music director S.A. Rajkumar and they fail to impress. Director Ravi Raja could have easily done away with a few flashback scenes since the audience these days are shrewd enough to understand the proceedings.

Subavela
Disappointing fare
Writer Teja after making a promising debut with a novel subject in Chitram, takes the audience for a royal ride by penning a routine entertainer in Subavela. Agreed that he intended to make a fun film, but instead of making mockery of the institution of marriage he could have opted for some other subject. The film falls flat on its face since a girl walking out of her marriage four times doesn’t deserve any sympathy.

Anasuya is the daughter of Giribabu and Delhi Rajeswari. She kicks her bridegroom even before he ties the mangalsutra and proceeds to her grandfather’s village. She repeats this act four times in her life. One day reporter Ravikanth files this for his weekly and it sells like hot cake bringing a smile on the face of the editor. When her photo is printed on the weekly, she files a defamation suit and the court orders to confiscate the properties of the weekly. Meanwhile, Ravikanth’s father coaxes him to marry his sister’s daughter but he has a soft corner for Anasuya. He heads for her village. The two fall in love and Ravi questions her for the strange behaviour. She informs him that her class-mate faced many problems after marriage and hence disliked the idea of getting married. Giribabu is joyous when Ravikanth accepts to marry his daughter and predictably she runs before Ravi ties the thali but later marries him.

It’s a love story but without good music it comes a cropper. Director Ramanna could have proved his abilities atleast in shot taking, but he misses a good opportunity.

BVS Prakash