Story: Anvitha Shetty (Anushka Shetty) doesn’t believe in love or marriage, but she wants to be a mother. She thinks Sidhu Polishetty (Naveen Polishetty) would make for a perfect sperm donor. But what happens when he falls in love with her?

Review: Director Mahesh Babu Pachigolla’s Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty is a mixed bag. While the film discusses a topic not much brought up in Telugu cinema, it also follows the same ol’ tropes every rom-com does, which doesn’t always work in its favour.

Masterchef Anvitha Shetty (Anushka Shetty) from London doesn’t have time for dating or men. She’d rather spend time in the kitchen perfecting her recipes or with her dying mother (Jayasudha), who worries her child will end up lonely. She doesn’t think much of marriage or love, but a throwaway comment her mom makes resonates with her. She decides to find the perfect sperm donor who can help her have a baby. Sidhu Polishetty (Naveen Polishetty), a stand-up comedian, seems to find all the qualities she’s looking for. He makes her laugh, seems mature and practical on the surface and all around, just like a great guy. As she pursues him to know more about his genes, he mistakes it for love.

Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty is hilarious once Sidhu enters the fold. The writing might not always be great, and the jokes might depend a lot on double entendres but Naveen makes it all work with his body language and dialogue delivery. Most of the film is also engaging, in the sense that you know where it’s all going, but you still care enough about the characters. That’s not to say that Anvitha’s bond with her mom needed to be written better, we’re told more than shown.

Where the film falters is that its biggest hand – Anvitha’s desire to be a single mother – is revealed in the trailer, which takes away from the shock factor. So, even as her friend and Sidhu overreact to this revelation, you don’t because you already know what the film is about. And beyond that, the film is as run-of-the-mill as it comes with Sidhu struggling to win Anvitha’s trust. The way the story is penned, there’s not much scope for there to be any chemistry between these lead characters, which doesn’t help the film either.

Naveen delivers a good performance, the role he plays seems ‘tailor-made’ for him. He falters in a few emotional scenes but it’s nothing you can’t get over. Anushka looks adorable on-screen and pulls off the role of an independent woman who doesn’t like emotional baggage well. Radhan’s music is okay, with the songs not adding much to the narrative. Hathavidhi is the only number that gels well with the proceedings. Tulsi, who plays Sidhu's mom, is hilarious in some scenes while Murli Sharma, who plays his father, is dependable as ever, especially in the pre-climax.

Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty is a good watch if you can’t get enough of sweet, simple rom-coms. But it needed more emotional heft to leave a mark