Sundar Prasad, played to perfection by Nani, is a young man with a problem. From an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family, Sundar has fallen in love with Leela (Nazriya Fahadh in her Telugu debut), from a traditional Christian family. Wanting to get married but afraid of their parent’s disapproval, Sundar persuades Leela to tell one lie after another. This leads to several deeply emotional situations, always balanced with compassion and humor. Writer-director Vivek Athreya takes this basic story and gives it depth. His characters are deeply influenced by family, religion, and traditions.
Sundar, for instance, has been greatly affected by his experiences while growing up. The only heir in his family tree, he is so important to his dad that everything Sundar does comes under scrutiny. For example, teenager Sundar shines in a school play and is recruited by a talent agent for a part in a Chiranjeevi movie being shot in America. His overprotective father (V.K. Naresh) will not let his only son go, but his mother (Rohini) uses her emotional influence on the grandmother (Aruna Bhikshu). “Opportunities deserve the same respect as traditions do, denying Sundar the opportunity means denying his growth”. Grandma signifies her approval. Sundar works like crazy on his dancing and acting skills. He becomes popular at school. He believes he has what it takes to be a hero. Tickets and passport in hand, he is ready for the airport when fate intervenes. His father has learned that the talent agent has been arrested. It seems, he was trafficking children under the guise of giving them acting opportunities.
Sundar’s dream of becoming a hero is dashed. To this, his father responds, “Forget Chiranjeevi, bawl your eyes out for a few minutes, take off those clothes, put on your uniform and get to school!”. When his classmates find out about what has happened, they mock him. Grandma gives up music, thinking her approval led to this tragedy. Sundar gives up watching movies. Dad becomes adamant about not taking anyone’s advice, especially his wife’s. He becomes overly cautious about Sundar and often seeks an astrologer’s advice concerning his future. The astrologer suggests one thing after another to help Sundar through this “bad phase”. Sundar’s anger builds and he starts thinking of ways to avoid his problems with lies and manipulation. His self-confidence suffers, he stops trying to excel and becomes mediocre.
Leela’s story is quite different. As a minority Christian student, she is often ignored or overlooked in school. This fact profoundly affects her as her hard work is never acknowledged. Her dad (Azhagam Perumal) encourages her to be different, to have a special identity, to walk an unconventional path, and to be strong. When she develops an interest in photography, he buys her a camera and encourages her, she practices photography diligently, and eventually becomes a professional photographer.
At this point in the story, they seem to meet as adults for the first time in an airport both are on their way to America. But these two have a past. Their story is told in both flashbacks and flashforwards. Along the way, there is hilarious visual humor and very funny dialogues. The teenage Sundar and Leela, played sweetly by Vinny and Harika Koyilamma, often appear when the adults try to think things out.
I really enjoyed this movie but had to watch it three times to catch all the details. Each time I grew more in love with it. It is nearly three hours long, but it covers a lot of ground. I especially enjoyed understanding more about the Hindu religion and getting to know these good and decent characters, their heartaches and their joys. Nani and Nazriya are well-matched and very sweet as the couple, and all the supporting actors were real and wonderful in their parts. By the end of the story, I realized that it is human values, held in common, that triumphed. ‘Ante Sundaraniki’ is a rom-com with depth.
