Plot:

Basava (Chaswa), a corrupt and badass cop happens to see Mythili (Daksha) in her wedding and instantly falls in love with her. Basava kills the groom on the spot and intimidates Mythili by killing one more groom she gets. Mythili suffers from a psychological shock due to these deaths and her brother shifts her to Agumbe, a remote village in Karnataka to save her from Basava. Mythili seeking rehabilitation in the village meets Skanda (Dileep), a localite and eventually develops feelings for each other. But fearing Basava would kill Skanda, Mythili rejects his proposal. Unable to take the rejection, Skanda decides to commit suicide but is saved by Basava who visits the village for the sake of a settlement. Knowing the reason behind the suicide attempt, Basava decides to help Skanda in his love story ignorant of the fact that Skanda and Mythili are lovers. How did Basava know the truth and how did Skanda win Mythili's hand forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

This is listed based on the merit of performance:

Chaswa: This new face delivered a stellar as the lead baddie (Basava) in the film. His presence and ease in acting are commendable. Has got a long way to go!

Raghava: This Jabardast fame comedian is the lone comic relief in the film.

Daksha: This newbie is so girl-next-door and is talented too. But unfortunately she is poker faced in the first half. However, she is good at crying and delivers her best in the second half.

Seema: She dons the role of hero's grandmother and fits the bill.

If you are looking for the hero's performance, let us introduce you to the hero of this classic love story

Dileep: Guess this new boy was forced into the film without making the quintessential cut as an actor. Neither looks nor his performance was impressive. But there is always room for betterment and bright prospects. Good luck buddy!

While some of the newcomers in the cast looked amateurish, the rest went overboard.

Analysis:

Teja who boasted of yet another promising love story ended up dishing out Jayam with new faces and location  change. In spite of making similar love stories from over a decade, Teja somehow once again resorted to make one more love story with his hit 'Jayam' template. This just shows his outlook towards storytelling and the respect he has for audience's reception.

Coming to the story, as the title says, Hora Hori isn't a complete tug of war between the  protagonist and antagonist. It is indeed a story of two guys (one strong and the other weak)  falling in love with the same girl and love gives strength to fight the strongest (and you know who's strong and weak in a Teja's love story).

Well, we have come across many formulas and to exempt Teja from this, there is no magic in the love story. In spite of the monotonous characters and their predictable behaviours, the story needs to have a feel good point and tugging love story for the common audience to connect which is exactly what Hora Hori lacks. Set in a village backdrop, the story has fights over internet cafes, printing press and adding to it, psychological problems, amateurish performances, insipid dialogues, predictable scenes, unnecessary comedy peeping in a romantic track and all the melodrama in the name of love marred the feel.

Keeping all this aside, right from the premise to dialogues, nothing impresses us in this love story. However, some engaging performance, decent cinematography and music might help you pull it off.

The first half kicks off with an interesting note but once the story reaches the village, the narration gets predictable. The pre-interval episode manages to bring you back into the story but the second half gets a ridiculous treatment.

Merits:

Some engaging performances.
Cinematography.
Editing.
Music.

Demerits:

Age old story with monotonous characters and conflict point.
Screenplay.

Music:

The album by Kalyani Koduri was good and was decently picturized too.

Others:

Cinematography and editing were decent enough.

Verdict:

Hora Hori is a typical Teja mark love story with new faces and location change. This film knit upon the Jayam template offers you nothing new but in turn reminds you of Jayam. If you have watched Jayam, you can safely give this a miss! But if you are a hardcore fan of Teja and his love stories...best of luck!