''Naa Autograph Sweet Memories'' () is a 2004 Indian
Telugu-language
romantic drama film
Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...
directed by
S. Gopal Reddy. The film stars
Ravi Teja
Bhupatiraju Ravi Shankar Raju (born 26 January 1968), known professionally as Ravi Teja, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised for his roles in action comedy films, he is popularly referred to as ...
alongside
Gopika,
Bhumika Chawla,
Mallika and
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...
. Though the film had an above average run at the box office, with the years gone by it slowly gathered cult following due to its refreshing content, making and music. This film is a remake of the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
film ''
Autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...
''. Gopika reprised her role from the original film. The film was also dubbed and released in Hindi as ''Thokar''.
Plot
The film begins with Seenu, who works in an advertising agency in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
, setting off on a journey, distributing wedding invitations for his forthcoming wedding. Along the way, he encounters various individuals from his past, who bring back memories of three women who have affected his love life.
First, Seenu returns to his village in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...
where he spent his childhood. He remembers his childhood antics, his school and his first love Vimala. After finishing school, Vimala got married and she never met Seenu again. In the present day, Seenu invites everyone from his village for his wedding including his friends, his old school master and Vimala, her husband and her three children.
Then, Seenu goes to a village in
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
where he moved after his father Sriram, a postmaster, was transferred there. He had his college education there. He was constantly bullied by the students there as he did not know
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
, but eventually managed to become friends with a fellow student Satyam, whose mother tongue was also
Telugu. Satyam served him as a translator. Seenu soon fell in love with Lathika, a Malayali girl. Lathika too reciprocated his feelings and soon their relationship becomes intimate. However, when Lathika's family discovered this, they expelled Seenu's family from the village and had her marry a local youth who also liked her. In the present day, Seenu reunites with Satyam in Kerala and invites him for his wedding. When they arrive at Lathika's house to invite her too, Seenu becomes upset to see that his former love had become a widow (her husband had died in a boating accident a couple of years prior).
After being expelled from the village in Kerala, Seenu and his parents moved to Hyderabad. Seenu had not got over Lathika and became an emotional wreck, and started to smoke and drink. He remained an emotional wreck until he met Divya, who worked in an advertisement agency headed by one Prakash. Divya, in fact, secured this job for Seenu after she saw him and his friend Bhagavan distributing pamphlets to the passengers in a bus, seeking job opportunities, hoping one of them may help them out in finding a job. Soon Seenu and Divya became close friends and Divya instilled confidence, unearthed his hidden talents and taught him the lesson that one has to proceed in life without looking back. Soon, Divya revealed that her widowed mother was a paralytic patient and that she worked to take care of her mother. As time passes by, she reveals that she was in love with someone and believed that he was the man of her life, but he cheated her. After Divya's mother died, she goes to orphanage and she lives with the orphanage children to build their carrier successful.
Finally, Seenu decided to marry a girl of his parents choice, Sandhya, for which he is distributing invitations in the present day. Everyone he invited, including Vimala, Lathika and Divya, attend his wedding. The film ends with Seenu reflecting on his life's journey to the audience.
Cast
Production
The
muhurat shot
In the Indian film industry, the muhurat shot or muhurtam shot is the first shot (or take) of a film marking the commencement of the principal photography. It is preceded by a pooja (religious rites). Muhurtam is a word from the Rig Veda and me ...
was held on 18 March 2004. After the success of the Tamil film ''
Autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...
'' (2004),
Bellamkonda Suresh
Bellamkonda Suresh is an Indian film producer in the Telugu film industry.
Biography
Bellamkonda Suresh is married to Bellamkonda Padmavathi and has two sons named Bellamkonda Sreenivas, Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas and Bellamkonda Ganesh Babu. ...
wanted to remake it into Telugu. Cinematographer
S. Gopal Reddy turned director with this film.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
M. M. Keeravani. The music was released under the
Aditya Music
Aditya Music India Private Limited is an Indian music record label company, which owns the label Aditya Music. It produces music for the Telugu cinema industry and is headquartered at Hyderabad, Telangana.
Overview
The company was founded b ...
label.
Ajay Devgn
Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director, and producer. One of the most prolific actors of Hindi cinema, Devgn has appeared in over Ajay Devgn filmography, 100 films and ha ...
attended the film's audio launch. A writer from ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' wrote that "VERY FEW times do music and lyrics appeal as a package. ''Naa Autograph'' reflects the brilliance of Keeravani and refreshing innovativeness of Chandrabose. While the tunes are soothing, lilting and most melodious, the lyrics are poetic and touching. And the singers are at their best".
The song "Mounamgane Yedagamani" also featured the performance of the members of Raaga Priya orchestra which also included its founder
Comagan.
Critical reception
A critic from ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' opined that Gopika "is the most attractive one in the film, because of the touch of tradition and
erperformance" and praised Keeravani's music. A critic from ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...
'' wrote that "The weird aspect of ''Naa Autograph'' is that there are no cinematic touches and the whole enterprise looks like a narcissistic affair! Consequently it becomes a Herculean effort to sit through the 165 minutes of the hero?s love life without lapsing into a siesta!" Jeevi of ''
Idlebrain.com'' wrote that "This film is one example of remakes where the body is imported successfully without the soul".
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0959328, title=Naa Autograph
2004 films
2000s Telugu-language films
Films scored by M. M. Keeravani
Telugu remakes of Tamil films
2000s Indian films