Hug Day 2020! New-age romantic movies to get you through Valentine’s Week

Romantic films can make you laugh out loud, cry your eyes out, and squee with happiness when the guy finally gets his girl in the climax. One way or the other, they take you into a desirable world and deliver warm fuzzies. The Valentine’s Week is already here and the sixth day (Feb 12) is celebrated as the Hug Day. On the special occasion, couples share their love towards each other by hugging. Besides the expression of love and care, a hug aka emotional charge can uplift the mood and make a person feel secure and contented.

2018 has certainly been a comeback year for romantic stuff in Telugu cinema with several romcoms doing wonders at the ticket counters. To name a few, there is Samantha and Naga Chaitanya’s Majili, Rahul Ravindran’s Chi La Sow, Sammohanam, Tholi Prema and Sharwanand’s Padi Padi Leche Manasu. With a day or two to go for Valentine’s Day, note down these 5 romantic dramas to get you through the memorable occasion!

‘Majili’ is the story of a failed cricketer Poorna (Naga Chaitanya) who goes through heartbreak and depression after his first love Anshu (Divyanka Kaushik) is forced to leave him. Sravani (Samantha) happens to be his neighbour and she has been in love with Poorna since high school days. She decides to marry him and despite his negligence towards her, she ‘unconditionally’ loves him and takes in all the mental agony caused by her husband with no complaint. However, things get interesting when Poorna decides to teach cricket to Anshu’s daughter Meera. Besides the crackling chemistry between Chay and Sam, the Shiva Nirvana directorial worked wonders at the BO due to the emotional connect in the storyline and Gopi Sunder’s soothing music.

‘Chi La Sow’ happens over a single-night when a happy-go-lucky protagonist Arjun was forced to meet a responsibility-driven Anjali as part of his marriage alliance. With an engaging narration, heart-touching dialogues, soothing music, splendid visuals, and an untouched concept till date; debutante director Rahul Ravindran managed to hit the bull’s eye. Sushanth looked quite confident in his role unlike previous outings and delivered a commendable performance. The surprise package was debutant Ruhani Sharma who impressed big-time with her spot-on expressions and attractive screen-presence. Actor-turned-director Rahul received his first national award from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu for Best Original Screenplay.

Despite underperforming on the commercial medium, Padi Padi Leche Manasu must certainly be in your Valentine list courtesy its delightful music, splendid visuals and the crackling chemistry portrayed between Sharwanand and Sai Pallavi. The two talented performers, who can sink their teeth into solid roles and captivate the viewers, are spot-on in their respective characters as a football player and doctor. Director Hanu Raghavapudi makes full use of the brilliant technical crew but fails on the writing part. The romantic scenes in the backdrop of Kolkata salvage the proceedings initially. But, things start to go awry, when the film shifts to Nepal and move towards the ‘memory-loss’ part in the climax.

After bagging consecutive hits with ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Ami Thumi’, sensible filmmaker Indraganti Mohan Krishna came out with all guns blazing in ‘Sammohanam’. The new-age romantic drama tells the story of a young cartoonist Vijay who finds himself in a quandary when he falls irrevocably in love with a film actress. Blended with varied emotions, meaningful dialogues and terrific performances, ‘Sammohanam’ worked because all its characters are human and vulnerable. Though Sudheer Babu delivered his best performance till date, Aditi Rao Hydari stole the show with her ease in acting, elegance, emotions and delightful screen-presence.

Despite the age-old storyline, Venky Atluri’s ‘Tholi Prema’ connected well with the urban audience owing to its haunting songs, splendid visuals, engaging screenplay and some wonderful chemistry between Varun Tej and Raashi Khanna. The contemporary love concept has been beautifully presented by the debutant director in an entertaining way with comedians like ‘Pelli Choopulu’ fame Priyadarshi and Jabardasth fame ‘Hyper’ Aadhi playing lengthy roles. S Thaman is the unsung hero of ‘Tholi Prema’ with a remarkable music score. A special mention must be given to Raashi for playing a complex character pretty convincingly and with maturity.