Directed by Sai Rajesh, the latest story of Anand Devarkonda is like a moral tale, where the protagonist truly portrays three-fourths of the morality in the film.
While it was two hours and 45 minutes of my life, I will never come back, baby. Unlike most contemporaries, when it comes to portraying female characters in films, she is completely impartial and sensitive.
Anand (Anand Devarkonda) and Vaishnavi (Vaishnavi Chaitanya) are neighbors and high school sweethearts who experience a humble lifestyle in a neighborhood. Vaishnavi’s parents are eager to see her rise above poverty and encourage her to enroll in an engineering college in the city. Meanwhile, Anand gets stuck there and chooses to live life as an auto-rickshaw driver.
Vaishnavi quickly immerses herself in the attractions of the city and tries to navigate her way in the social hierarchy with the help of some friends, who encourage her to change her presence by lightening her skin, wearing branded clothes, and coloring her hair. This new lifestyle creates a rift in her love life as Anand becomes convinced that Vaishnavi is not true to herself, and he takes her name in a moment of heat.
Baby (Telugu)
Director: Sai Rajesh
Cast: Anand Deverakonda, Vaishnavi Chaitanya, Viraj Ashwin, Nagababu, Kusuma Degalamarri, Sathvik Anand
Runtime: 175 minutes
Storyline: A love story between neighbours and childhood friends played and what happens to their relationship when they go to college and meets a new person.
At the same time, Vaishnavi is introduced to Viraj (Viraj Ashwin), who is the heartbeat of the college and does not shy away from showcasing his expensive cars for attention. Their friendship quickly turns into turmoil when Viraj confesses his love to her.
For the next one hour and 40 minutes of the film, Vaishnavi struggles to manage that strange love triangle she has brought into her life to her liking. The criticism of greed and materialism that the film attempted to establish in the first part fails during moments of accidental sexual encounters between the characters, humorous clashes through pranks, a failed suicide attempt, and the death of parents. The sequence of events serves as a catalyst to lose interest in the characters, their emotions, and aspirations; the length of the film doesn’t help either.
However, it’s nice to see imperfect characters on screen, who are not seen as entirely good or bad.
Vaishnavi Chaitanya carries the weight of most of the film and manages to engage the audience in supporting her even during her wrong steps, but Anand Devarkonda falters while playing the role of a distressed lover. The supporting characters are not given their due as their behavior changes arbitrarily according to the director’s whims to move the story forward.
In the end, Baby runs like a moral tale, where the protagonist truly conveys three-fourths of the moral aspects in the film.
Baby is currently running in theaters.