The closest Dolce & Namak will come to reviewing Arya 2

Here's the problem with this Telugu movie starring Allu Arjun, Kajal Aggarwal, Navdeep and Shraddha Das: Dolce is so in love with this movie, that Namak has been silenced by shrill supersonic outbursts of fangirl-ness to the point where she decided: if you can't beat them, join them. Which is great for their relationship, but terrible for this blog because if I can't have a balanced review, I'd rather not have one at all.

To describe the movie briefly would be an injustice, but I suppose it must be done. Arya (Allu Arjun) and Ajay (Navdeep) both grew up in an orphanage as best friends. One day Ajay got adopted by a rich family, but Arya was never far from his life. In fact Arya's idea of friendship is better understood if one thinks of a psychotic stalker and the object of his affection. Enter Geetha (Kajal Aggarwal), a new employee at Ajay's company, who turns into the force that throws everything off balance as both Ajay and Arya fall in love with her. Arya's obsessive affection for Ajay is challenged by his even more obsessive affection for Geetha which simultaneously turns him into a puppy in love and a vigilante for alternatively Geetha and Ajay's happiness. 

This song should tell you all you need to know about Arya's idea of love (and a tiny bit of what you need to know about Allu Arjun's out of this world dancing skills).


But that's not what I was planning to talk about. As I was indulging in an episode of the TV show "House" the other day, it hit me that there must be something that I enjoy about this kind of dysfunctional addiction-based relationship, because Arya and Ajay are practically identical to Wilson and House, who have given me many great moments over the past year of catching up to this show.

Wilson, much like Ajay, fails as the person with the most influence on House (and Arya respectively) simply because he is too weak to actually use his power. House could not live without him, and they both know it, but every time Wilson gets close to playing the leaving for good card, he chickens out. On the other hand House torments him until kingdom come without ever apologizing, as if it were his right to do so, and yet he relies on Wilson more than he relies on his drugs to get him through the day. It sometimes seems as if House is the strong one, but in my opinion, they're both weak and entirely dependent on each other.


Ajay and Arya follow the same pattern: you'd think Ajay wants Arya out of his life for good, and designs some very elaborate plans to reach this goal, but if he really wanted it, he could have done it long back. Meanwhile Arya keeps lying to himself that Ajay needs him, only because he's the one who desperately needs Ajay, his approval, his affection, his attention. It's funny how at first sight it seems that one is clinging to the other (Arya to Ajay and House to Wilson), only to reveal in the end that their symbiotic dysfunctional relationship has them tied together so tight that it's hard to even tell which one is which anymore.

On my cheese rating scale Arya 2 is would be the exquisite cranberry goat cheese. It messes with your head at first, and you won't even know it's cheese until you've had it a few times, but oh the sweet, velvety spiciness of it will not leave your mind for a long time to come. You may even get addicted and crave it like mad. It's ok, if that happens, just indulge in a few songs.