Sundarakanda, produced by Santhosh Chinnapolla, Gowtham Reddy, and Rakesh Mahankalli, was released in theatres today. In this section, we review the latest BO release.
Plot:
Siddharth (Nara Rohith) is an ageing bachelor whose parents have given up on his luck with marriage. He is adamant about finding that perfect woman in whom he seeks five specific qualities. He is obsessed with this set of qualities because his childhood crush had them. When he bumps into Eira (Vriti Vaghani) at an airport, he is smitten by her kindness and stuff. He woos her despite her being quite younger than him. A twist awaits him, putting his potential 'made in heaven' match in jeopardy.
Performances and Technical aspects:
Nara Rohith channels his Jyo Achyutananda naturalness. After playing heavy to semi-heavy roles in movies like Bhairavam and Prathinidhi 2, he is refreshing in a romantic role. Vriti Vaghani is decent. Sridevi Vijaykumar plays Vaishnavi, a strongly written role with at least two consequential scenes.
Satya and Sunaina are natural as a husband and wife. Satya's comedy timing saves quite a few scenes. Abhinav Gomatam and VK Nareh are seen as the hero's friend and father, respectively. Vasuki Anand plays the hero's sister.
Leon James' music is above-average. Please Please Ma'am, Hammayya, and Dear Eira have a playful energy. Since the treatment is not serious, his kind of music suits. The cinematography is not up to the mark.
Post-Mortem:
At a time when love stories have been relegated to OTTs and TV, writer-director Venkatesh Nimmalapudi revives a familiar premise to spin a popcorn rom-com with a coming-of-age character. The film makes for a fairly fun watch if you don't expect drama and emotionally hard-hitting moments.
After the interval bang, the viewer learns in a snap that the sole motive of the movie is to play the protagonist's dilemma for laughs. Entertainment is the default identity of Telugu cinema, where filmmakers are not aware of the existence of other genres. There is no profound drama in these movies, which typically can't breathe without comedians like Satya and supporting artists like VK Naresh losing no opportunity to crack repartees. Sundarakanda is best watched with this knowledge.
Nara Rohith's character is out of depth once he lands himself in a soup. His only job from hereon is to behave like a non-adult while treating others around him as kiddos incapable of holding sustained conversations. The scene where he must prevent his parents from getting to know a key character's name is in the 'confusion/chaos' comedy mold. Again, this is the zenith of any film that believes life is a series of gags to be redeemed through a cinematic melodrama in the climax. There is no saving this brand of storytelling, whose self-image never grew after the EVV Satyanarayana brand of entertainment defined new benchmarks three decades ago. Eira is in a singular mood. Once she has decided to marry Siddharth, nobody can stop her. Her desperation makes her look like someone who doesn't know that, maybe, she needs to bide her time.
Not much can be dissected about certain scenes and story beats, given the nature of the twist. If you are a fan of films that play rare situations for laughs and laughs alone, Sundarakanda is your kind of movie.
Closing Remarks:
Sundarakanda is a lighthearted rom-com that doesn't aim for emotional depth or serious drama. With a natural performance from Nara Rohith and well-timed comedy from Satya, the film provides a few laughs and is a decent watch if you're in the mood for a simple, popcorn entertainer.
