Review: Lovely - romantic family drama

Hyderabad: Thanks to a series of promotions and a grand gala audio release by none less than 'Prince' Mahesh, 'Lovely' managed to garner some hype.

Although it doesn't offer anything awfully new, it comes across as a sweet romance laced with family sentiment. Much like its title, 'Lovely' portrays the lovely father-daughter bonding with a parallel love story of the lead pair.

The movie begins with Mangalampalli Maharathi (Rajendra Prasad, a wealthy businessman), attending an annual meet of a school as a chief guest and walking out of the function abruptly citing indiscipline of students as the cause for his indignation.

The scene establishes the character of Maharathi and takes you into his personal story.

Lavanya alias Lovely (Shanvi) is the darling daughter and only child of Maharathi and he gives her complete freedom.

Lavanya meets Akash accidentally when their respective friends Lalitha and Kittu fake their Facebook profiles and the two pairs fell in love respectively. Lavanya informs her dad about her love.

Maharathi is unhappy with her choice but nevertheless wants to check him out.

Maharathi decides to play it safe and keeps him off her life smartly. Meanwhile, he makes a plan to check Akash's antecedents, his lifestyle and other crucial things by moving into his house.

He puts on various guises to test him. His motley get-ups, in the process, are amusing. How Akash manages to impress Maharathi and marries Lovely forms the rest of the story.

This movie may not keep you on the edge of the seat, but it has its own twists. Albeit most of the scenes are predictable, director Jaya succeeds in entertaining the audience.

Scenes between Sathya Krishna and Harshavardhan turn out-to-be hilarious. Natakeeriti Rajendra Prasad fits the role aptly. Aadi comes across as a breath of fresh air and scorches the screen with his dances, fights and dialogues. Shanvi is okay with her debut performance.

Anoop Rubens' numbers are an asset to the movie. 'Ninnu chusina kshanamuna'' and 'Chori chori'' are fabulous. Songs are beautifully crafted at scenic foreign locales and it is a visual treat.

Director Jaya, who is also credited with story, screenplay and editing, has done better than her previous movies.

The movie could have built more credibility by giving insight into the characters. We have no clue of what the lead cast - Lavanya, Akash, Kittu (Vennela Kishore) and Lalitha (Chinmayi)- do in life.

Do they study or work? All we know is that Maharathi is a businessman and he is a nomadic in pursuit of his business deals. Overall, 'Lovely' is a sweet and cool summer movie for the family audiences.