Verdant and picturesque locales, good cinematography, sonorous music and a pleasant love story written and directed well by Ramana Salwa makes Telugu film Kudirithe Kappu Coffee refreshing and pleasant.
This love story is yet another addition to the umpteen ones seen on screen but its good treatment has made it a nice watch. Yet, one feels a sense of incompleteness and the lack of a cohesive narrative.
Venu (Varun Sandesh) is the son of well-off parents and he loves travelling. His mother chides him for not settling down with a job. His happy-go-lucky life is shattered by his friend Ravi's suicide (due to un-reciprocated love). This makes him go against love.
His father (Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao) tells him of a property he has bought in Dakshinagiri where he has allowed his teacher Nirmala (Sukumari) to run a hill side cafe (one hardly sees any visitors there though). So Venu sets off to Dakshinagiri.
Lasya (Suma Bhattacharya), Nirmala's granddaughter is studying hotel management and dreams of running the coffee shop. She bumps into Venu and is unaware of his credentials. She falls in love with him but Venu does not.
There's another character (played by Tanikella Bharani) introduced as the man who has his eye on the cafe.
The narrative slows down here and there. There seems to be hardly much of a connect between the scenes -- some of them seem to have been just strung together and look disjointed. The director's idea of showing unrequited love was good but somewhere Ramana Salwa has allowed the camera to take centrestage -- the focus is on the scenic locations. He seems to have got carried away by the picture pretty backdrop of the hilly setting of Coorg, the coffee country.
There are some cartoons of the lead character introduced but they have no role, they are more of a deterrent. In fact, the title of the film seems more of a misnomer as it doesn't gel with the story.
Varun Sandesh sports a clean shaven look and looks mature and intense in this role. He is believable as the youngster he plays. His Telugu diction still has an Americam twang.
Debutante Suma Bhattacharya looks pretty. She adds an element of novelty to the film. Better make-up, and styling would have certainly made her look better.
Tanikella Bharani had hardly much to do and is wasted in the role. Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao plays a stiff father well. Sukumari is elegant as the grandmother.
Yogeshwar's music and background score are sonorous. The camerawork of Santosh Rai is the highlight of the film. It is a relief that the running time is just about two hours.
Rediff Rating: 
