Director Merlapaka Gandhi’s Like Share & Subscribe starring Santosh Shobhan and Faria Abdullah as the lead pair has hit the screens silver screens today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: Being a travel vlogger, Viplav( Santosh Shobhan) gets famous with his YouTube channel Guvva Vihari. On his trip to Araku Valley, Viplav crosses paths with yet another popular vlogger Vasudha( Faria Abdullah). After reaching Araku, Vasudha will be kidnapped by a rebellious gang named PPF led by Brahmanna ( Brahmaji). The rest of the story is about how the young digital influencers escape from the gang.
Performances: Santosh Shobhan and Faria Abdullah are amazing with their energetic screen presence in the film. The young artists perfectly fitted as new-age digital influencers.
The on-screen chemistry between Santosh and Faria throws a positive vibe to the film. Noted comedian Sudershan Reddy is good in the given comedy-coated role. His dialogue delivery and one-liners bring an instant smile.
Actor Brahmaji is apt in the given serious-looking fun role as a gang leader. Other supporting artists such as Mime Gopi and Govind Padmasoorya did their part perfectly.
Technicalities: The photography work by A Vasanth is visible on screen as captured the beauty of Araku Valley in a superb manner. The night mood shots are also canned nicely by using good framing and lighting setup.
The music by Praveen Lakkaraju is decent as all the songs are passable on screen. His background score is apt to the film’s genre. Noted singer Ram Miriyala also composed a couple of songs that are passable.
While the editing by Ram Thum is fine, the production values for this slow-budget film are okay.
Analysis: Firstly, director Merlapaka Gandhi should be appreciated for coming up this kind of new-age concept related to travel vlogging. His on-papers ideas are decent but they are not transformed on the screen perfectly. The lack of strong writing and engaging scene order comes as a major defect for Like Share & Subscribe.
After a few initial comic scenes involving the lead pair, the film completely goes side-track as it progresses. To summerize, Like Share & Subscribe is a conceptual comedy-drama that goes for a toss. If the comedy episodes are written nicely, the result would have been somewhat better.
Verdict: Silly narration!
Rating: 1.5/5
