What’s it about?
Karthik (Allari Naresh) and his friends work for a local politician, Tillu, in Warangal. With bi-elections approaching, Tillu (Jeevan Kumar) asks his men to stay quiet and avoid drawing attention. During this lull, Karthik tries to win over his neighbour Aaradhana (Kamakshi Bhaskarla), although she shows little interest.
Aaradhana lives with her mother and is focused on her badminton career, hoping to make it to the national team. Meanwhile, Tillu assigns Karthik the task of hiding a bag, since the police have begun raiding the houses of his associates as part of the election checks. Believing Aaradhana’s home to be the safest place, and noticing that she and her mother have not been seen for three days, Karthik decides to hide it there.
He jumps the fence and enters the house, surprised to see Aaradhana inside. Moments later, he discovers her lying dead. Was the girl he saw earlier her ghost or his imagination? How was she killed, and for what reason? And will Karthik uncover the truth behind her death?
Analysis
“12A Railway Colony,” directed by editor Nani in his debut effort, is built on a flimsy and confused plot. Dr. Anil Vishwanath of ‘Polimera’ fame, who handled the story and screenplay, has earlier worked with tantric and supernatural themes. This time, he attempts a murder mystery but later seems to have added ghost elements as an afterthought. The result is a muddled mix that borders on the absurd.
A murder investigation demands logic, unlike a ghost thriller that thrives on fantasy. Here, logic is thrown out completely. The investigation is not led by the police officer but by the hero, played by Allari Naresh, who is merely a local henchman. The writing feels directionless, as if the team believed that a couple of twists in the end would compensate for the tedious narration.
The so-called twists in the story resemble an episode straight out of Hindi TV series, CID.
The first half drifts aimlessly, focusing on Naresh wooing Kamakshi and showcasing his gang’s banal conversations about women and drinking.
The story is set in a railway colony in Warangal, yet this backdrop has no actual relevance. In the first half, Kamakshi rejects Naresh’s romantic advances, though the film later tries to suggest she secretly admired him. In the second half, Naresh bizarrely shows relief upon learning that Kamakshi, who is already dead, was not married to someone else. None of this holds any logical weight.
Naresh is completely miscast. His characterization is poorly written, and he struggles throughout, unable to get the dialect right or bring life to the role. Sai Kumar’s character is the film’s biggest unintentionally comical element.
As usual in a whodunit, the hero becomes the prime suspect before suspicion shifts to others. After the interval, Sai Kumar appears as the investigating officer and announces that the murder has a motive the world has never heard of. Yet he does almost no investigating. His most frequent line is “negative” as suspects are dismissed one by one, while Naresh handles all the real work. Early on, Sai Kumar even tells a junior officer that the motive is unprecedented, only to contradict himself at the end by saying such motives are actually common. This flip-flop reflects the haphazard writing, where scenes seem created on impulse rather than with coherence.
Except for Abhirami, the performances are inconsistent across the board. The debut director, who also edited the film, fails to extract solid work even from his technical crew.
Bottom line: “12A Railway Colony” is dull, illogical, and burdened with weak writing. The supposed twists add no value, and Naresh appears lost both in his role and in the film’s chaotic world.
Rating: 1.75/5
Movie: 12A Railway Colony
Cast: Allari Naresh, Dr Kamakshi Bhaskarla, Sai Kumar, Viva Harsha, Jeevan Kumar, Anish Kuruvilla, Abhirami and others.
Story, Screenplay, Showrunner: Dr Anil Vishwanath
Music: Bheems Ceciroleo
Director of Photography: Kushendar Ramesh Reddy
Producer: Srinivasaa Chitturi
Edited and directed by: Nani Kasaragadda
Release Date: November 21, 2025
