Cast: Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, Anupama Parameswaran, Sandy Master, Praveen, Prema, Tanikella Bharani, Hyper Aadi, Makrand Deshpande
Crew:
Cinematography by Chinmay Salaskar
Editing by Niranjan Devaramane
Music by Chaitan Bharadwaj
Written & Directed by Koushik Pegallapati
Produced by Sahu Garapati
Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas has been trying his hand at different films along with major commercial entertainers. He got a box office hit with Rakshasudu and he is back with another thriller, Kishkindhapuri. Koushik Pegallapati, who debuted with Chavu Kaburu Challaga, directed this one after a 4 year gap. Anupama Parameswaran who had been part of Rakshasudu is back as leading lady. Let’s discuss about the movie in detail.
Plot:
Raghav (Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas) and Mythili (Anupama Parameswaran) are in a live-in relationship. They both work for Ghost Hunting Party and organise visits to Haunted Houses. Raghav is a very good person, who keeps other lives before his. They enter into a random mission without any control into Suvarna Maya Mahal. There they meet a ghost haunting through radio. After entering into the house, each of the members who entered start to die. Why? Who is haunting the mansion? How can Raghav overcome this Ravana level threat? Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas is good in the role and he showcases ease in performing lengthy shots, action sequences. He needs to slightly work on facial expressions as at places they feel random. Anupama Parameswaran is good and she is able to handle the difficult scenes pretty well. Sandy Master did his role well but he is not used effectively. Prema, Tanikella Bharani all had good parts none of them really leave an impact.
The makers seem to have obssessed with Ramayana parallels with giving villain, Vishvavau putra – another name to Ravana, making his mother evil and even drawing parallels with Ravana’s Suvarna Lanka, Suvarna Mahal. But these mythological parallels doesn’t really shine as the writer-director did not really use them in a clever fashion. It feels more like an excuse to tell another horror thriller with such parallels.
Jump scares in the first hour work to a level but second hour doesn’t really have any impact. The mystery and back story seems to be inspired from Rakshasudu and then drawn parallels with mythology. Except for some twists here and there, most of the film runs on a predictable narrative. The shock and engaging factor is missing in the second hour as it feels like a regular ending.
The movie had lot more potential than what the makers have explored. The Stranger Things inspired climax portion and random ending to a sequence that had been given huge build-up hampers the movie impact. Once, we enter the 30-40 minutes portion before climax, things appear at random rather than organically building to it. To keep it different makers seem to have rushed at few portions while a better pacing could have helped it. On the whole, Kishkindhapuri underwhelms with very flat narrative.
Bottomline:
Plot had huge potential but the narrative fails to explore and ends up being underwhelming.
Rating: 2/5
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. Viewers’ discretion is advised before reacting to them.
