Passion is a word that is often bandied about in the movie industry. Actors, writers and directors use this word indiscriminately. However, when you see a movie like Current and probably go back to a much better film like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam where the girl falls for a carefree boy and is willing to break up her marriage for him, you realize what passion is. Bhansali creates the scenes, dialogues and builds up the screenplay in such a way that you actually feel for Salman, empathise with Aishwarya who is trapped in a loveless marriage (from her side) and feel bad for Ajay Devgan. In Current, you rarely connect with the movie. The spark is completely missing. Even though Current’s tagline is ‘connecting hearts’, it rarely touches you, leave alone the heart. However, if you look at it as just a fun, college love story, it just about passes muster - a few funny dialogues, two good, racy numbers, one nice haunting melody, a pretty heroine and an earnest hero. 

The Telugu industry takes pride in hailing the roadside romeo with attitude and a golden heart. Be it Puri Jagannath’s Idiot or Trivikram’s Jalsa, the protagonist is actually a loser with no great academics or professional success but with attitude. However, Sushanth is someone who just drifts along life. His only forte is his sharp sense of hearing. So much that he even falls for his girl at first byte. He overhears a nice voice in a jogging track and follows it up to find a pretty girl. Without any delay he falls for Sneha. She turns out to be his classmate who has another special forte – she forsees her future through dreams. Here the director does manage to create a few funny scenes based on his sharp sense of hearing and her slipping into her dreamy stupors.

Sneha is disappointed with Sushanth when he says he can’t do much to change his life for her. There is no particular scene or episode where we are shown how and why Sneha finally gives into Sushanth. Hence, her turnabout is not really convincing. There should have been more rousing dialogues and far more punch in the scenes like Sushanth meeting Sneha’s Dad or how he manages to win her over from her NRI groom, both extremely important sections of the film.

Surya Prathap’s direction is good in only in some of the comedy scenes. Especially the opening scene and where Sushanth plays the dream prank on Sneha. However, his directorial control over the emotional scenes simply goes haywire. His inclusion of college slang for some scenes (apparently they use the word 'Biscuit' to describe those who brag much) is well utilised. But the scene at the brothel house just doesn’t work and ends up falling totally flat. 

Sushanth has an enviable lineage. The grandson of Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, nephew of Nagarjuna and Sumanth’s cousin, he could have made a more splashier follow up film to better his debut, Kalidasu.  Still, it has to be said he suits his character perfectly for the film. But he needs proper styling, especially regarding his clothes and hair. The camera always seems to frame his face from afar or in wide angle. Apparently, he was trained in martial arts and dance but nothing remarkable shows up on the screen. But for someone who has done just two movies, he has done a fairly decent job. Sneha’s USP is her uncanny resemblance to Aishwarya Rai and she is truly the poor man’s Aishwarya. Her clothes have been styled very well and if you missed the credits, a not so knowledgeable person would actually think it was a dubbing movie of Aishwarya. In her expressions and body language, she is the ice maiden in every sense. 

Cinematography is sprightly and using the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was a good idea. The airport has never looked so good. Vijay C Kumar, known for his award-winning work in Anand, comes up with some excellent picture postcard images by using the magic hour effectively, especially in the songs. Editing, by and large, mantains the pace and tempo of the film because nowhere does the movie appear to drag. However, the scenes like Sushanth trying to prevent Sneha from attending her exam or the comedy scenes during their college project seem to be rushed through too rapidly.  

The music by Devi Sri Prasad is good, but repetitive nevertheless. The title song is good and the musical rendition of this song in crucial scenes is also fine nd utilised well. The Ammayilu Abbayilu song reminds you of Devisri’s recent hit Jalsa. Almost every song has non-Telugus (we presume, at least going by their pronunciation) in the playback and it is definitely not soothing on the ears. Barring Rekkalu Todigina, none of the others have the regional flavor.

Overall, Current is like a circuit board with a few messy wires left hanging loose. Touch it, but watch your hands!