Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 18, 2010

Boasting an excellent soundtrack by Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, Gautham Menon's "Ye Maya Chesave" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Bhavani. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with director Gautham Menon, cast and crew interviews, bloopers, and stills. In Telugu and Malayalam, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu

Karthik (Naga Chaitanya Akkineni) is young, unemployed and madly in love with his neighbor, Jessie. He spends most of his time thinking about her and how beautiful life would be if they were to get married. Occasionally, he also dreams about being a film director.

Jessie has no idea that Karthik is in love with her. In fact, she has absolutely no time to think about men. And what would be the point of she did – her father has already selected one for her. She does not like him but her father does. And this is all that matters.

Karthik approaches Jessie and confesses his feelings to her. She immediately rejects him. When Khartik asks why, Jessie explains that she can never be his girl – she is Christian (Karthik isn’t) and older than him. There is no way her parents would allow her to be in a relationship with a man like him. If Karthik is interested, they could be friends. Karthik is most definitely not interested.

Jessie heads to the countryside to forget about Karthik. But when he suddenly appears with one of his best friends and apologizes for confessing his love to her, she breaks down and admits that she is also in love with him.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s father introduces his daughter’s future husband. On her wedding day, however, Jessie decides that enough is enough and runs away. Later on she meets Karthik but tells him that she can’t be with him.

Karthik leaves and concentrates on his filming career. He tries hard to forget about Jessie but fails. Years later he meets Jessie, and they decide to give love another chance.

Gautham Menon’s Ye Maya Chesave is a colorful Indian film that blends elements from a number of different genres, from romance to comedy and satire. It also features a good number of musical performances, each and every one of them also blending elements from a variety of different musical styles, from electronica to pop and hip-hop.

The story of the film is fairly straightforward. After the intermission (yes, the film does have an intermission) it is fairly easy to figure out where things are heading, though there are a couple of interesting twists. As it is the case with most similarly-themed Indian films, a happy ending is guaranteed.

Aside from the young and very pretty Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the cast is rather unremarkable. Additionally, many of the dancers in the film also look surprisingly stiff and uncomfortable in front of the camera.

Cinematographer Manoj Paramahamsa’s lensing is very strong. The panoramic vistas from the Indian countryside, in particular, are excellent. A few of the dream sequences with New York City, however, feel like very long commercials about a very expensive brand of shampoo.

Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman’s (Slumdog Millionaire) original soundtrack is excellent. I very much enjoyed his "Vintunnava" (performed by Karthik and Shreya Ghoshal) and "Ee Hridayam" (performed by Vijay Prakash, Suzanne D'Mello, and BlaaZe). I thought that the arrangements were indeed very well done.

Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gautham Menon's Ye Maya Chesave arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Bhavani.

This is a pleasing high-definition transfer. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good, clarity acceptable and contrast levels adequate. There are some inconsistencies with the color-scheme. Blues, greens and browns are not always rich and well saturated. During selected scenes, the blacks also look very soft. Occasionally, mild edge-enhancement is noticeable. Macroblocking, however, is not an issue of concern. I also did not detect any traces of heavy noise reduction. There are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. However, while viewing the film I did notice quite a few tiny flecks popping up here and there. All in all, this is a very encouraging release from Bhavani. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Telugu LPCM 5.1 and Telugu Dolby Digital 5.1 (with portions of Malayalam). For the record, Bhavani have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Generally speaking, the Telugu LPCM 5.1 track is pleasing; the bass is potent and the rear channels effective. This being said, during songs 2 & 3 I noticed a number of very mild distortions in the low frequencies. These are easy to hear on song 2 and not so easy to hear on song 3. The dialog is stable, clean and easy to follow. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings to report in this review.

The Telugu Dolby Digital 5.1 track does not disappoint but does not impress either. It is very easy to hear that it lacks the depth and dynamic fluidity of the Telugu LPCM 5.1 track.

There are some minor grammatical errors with the English translation. Most of them appear after the intermission.

Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Commentary - an audio commentary with director Gautham Menon. I listened only to selected parts of the commentary and my impressions are that it is very informative. The director spends a great deal of time discussing the production history of his film, characters, message, etc. The commentary is in English.

Bloopers - a collage of bloopers. In Telugu, not subtitled in English. (9 min, 480/60i).

Stills - two sets of stills; one from the making of the film and another with stills from the actual film.

Interviews - a collage of interviews with various cast and crew members:

-- Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya. Not subtitled in English. (44 min, 480/60i).

-- Rama Naidu and Naga Chaitanya. Not subtitled in English. (23 min, 480/60i).

Ye Maya Chesave Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I enjoyed Gautham Menon's Ye Maya Chesave quite a bit. It is beautifully lensed and boasting a wonderful soundtrack by Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman. Despite a few minor issues, Bhavani's Region-Free Blu-ray disc is also easy to recommend. RECOMMENDED.