Film: 'Sathya in Love'; Cast: Shivaraj Kumar, Genelia, Komal, 'Bullet' Prakash, Jayaprakash Reddy, M.S. Narayan and Ajay; Director: Raghava Loki; Producer: Ramesh; Music: Guru Kiran; Rating: **

Director Raghava Loki has got his technical components working right for his debut venture, 'Sathya in Love', but has neglected the script that is the soul of any film. The result is a sorry product and the appeal of Shivaraj Kumar in a new hairdo cannot save it.

The film takes the viewer on a southern tour from Bangalore to violence-ridden Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh, but without revealing any freshness even in the narration of a familiar story. The state-of-art technical content does not make it any less stale.

The story begins with 'Sathya' (Shivaraj Kumar), who meets a girl (Genelia) and falls in love, only to find her giving him the miss every time. His frantic search for her takes him from Karnataka to Kurnool, where her father Ranga Reddy is a dreaded gangster.

The rest of the film is about Sathya's pursuit of his love despite many obstacles, including Rayalaseema's infamous musclemen.

Loki has taken no trouble to make this variation on a trite theme less wearisome. At least, the first half of the film has some comedy and well-picturised songs.

The entertainment ends as the film takes a totally different turn in the second half. An overdose of Telugu dialogues in the second half does not mend matters for viewers who are not well versed in the language.

Shivaraj is his dashing self, but his screen presence does not compensate for a poor script. Genelia looks cute and her smile is attractive. She is a good actress and Loki could have used her skills to greater effect in many sequences.

Telugu villains Jayaprakash Reddy and Ajay are just passable. Komal is in his elements in a few sequences in the first half.

M.R. Seenu's cinematography stands out.

Music director Guru Kiran has composed some good songs. Two of these - 'Nodalivalu lovely lovely' and 'Sereyaadenu' - are already chartbusters.

'Sathya in Love' has several enjoyable moments for ardent Shivaraj fans, but the film could have had a wider appeal if only the director had done some homework on the script and told the oft-told tale in a different manner.