Movie Reviews

Sankranthiki Vasthunnam Review – Gulte

Published

11 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

2.75/5

2 Hr 24 Mins | Family | 14-01-2025

Cast – Venkatesh, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Aishwarya Rajesh, Srinivasa Reddy, Naresh, Sai Kumar, Upendra Limaye, VTV Ganesh, Srinivas Avasarala and others

Director – Anil Ravipudi

Producer – Dil Raju

Banner – Sri Venkateswara Creations

Music – Bheems Ceciroleo

After delivering a blockbuster with ‘F2’ and a hit with ‘F3’, Victory Venkatesh and Anil Ravipudi teamed for the third time with, Sankranthiki Vasthunnam, to score a hat-trick of successful films in their combination. With a chartbuster song ‘Godari Gattu Meeda’ and a huge round of promotions including reels, etc., the team managed to generate very good buzz around the film. Did Venkatesh & Anil Ravipudi score a hat-trick in their combination? Did Dil Raju manage to score a hit at the box office after a series of disappointing films? Did Venkatesh get back onto the success track after a forgettable film, Saindhav, which was released in theatres during the last Sankranthi? Let’s find out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Y D Raju(Venkatesh), an Ex-Cop and an encounter specialist leads a happy life with his wife(Aishwarya Rajesh), four kids and a joint family in a village near Rajahmundry. His Ex-Girlfriend(Meenakshi Chaudhary), a Cop, reaches out to him one fine day and requests him to help the police department perform a secret rescue operation. Who is that Y D Raju and the team have to rescue? Why did Y D Raju’s wife want to be part of the rescue mission? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Victory Venkatesh played a tailor-made role in the film. Y D Raju’s role is a cakewalk for him as he has done many similar roles in the past. He is as usual very good with his comedy timing. His dialogues in the form of a ‘Message’ to men during a fight sequence in the second half, his act as a loveable husband and his act as a husband who gets sandwiched between wife and ex-girlfriend are sure to bring the roofs down in theatres.

Aishwarya Rajesh as an innocent and possessive wife delivered a very good performance. Her performance as an innocent wife in the first half deserves a special mention. Meenakshi Chaudhary as ex-girlfriend and a COP delivered a good performance. Seems like the appreciation she got for her role in ‘Lucky Baskhar’ instilled a lot of confidence in her and that confidence is evident in the way she carried her role beside a senior hero like Venkatesh & a seasoned performer like Aishwarya Rajesh.

The little kid who played the role of Bulliraju is a show stealer. The sequences involving him in the first half are one of the major highlights of the film. Animal Actor, Upendra Limaye, got a meaty role as Jailer but his performance is over-the-top and patience-testing at times. Srinivasa Reddy & Sai Kumar generated a few laughs in the second half and made their presence felt. Naresh & VTV Ganesh have good screen space but not much fun was generated from their roles. Srinivas Avasarala in a crucial role made his presence felt and looked believable in the role of a CEO.

Technicalities:

Songs by Bheems Ceciroleo are the biggest highlight of the film. It is refreshing to hear good old melody songs after a long time in a Telugu film and equally refreshing to hear Ramana Gogula’s vocals after a very long time. The ‘Godari Gattu Meeda’ song is sure to turn theatres into concerts this festive season. Bheems Ceciroleo’s background score is also good.

The cinematography by Sameer Reddy is pretty ordinary. The film is made on a shoestring budget looking at the ordinary visuals at most of the places. Editing by Tammiraju should have been better in the second half and also during the pre-interval. The drama during the pre-interval is good but it should have been better with some crisp editing.

Production values by Sri Venkateswara Creations are adequate. It seems the team made a deliberate decision to make the film on a limited budget and it is evident with the production quality.

Positives:

Two Sequences Involving Bulliraju In The First Half
Songs
Venkatesh Comedy Timing
Aishwarya Rajesh’s Innocent Performance
Pre-Climax Sequence on Venkatesh
Bheems Ceciroleo’s Background Score

Negatives:

Over The Top Sequences In Second Half
Upendra Limaye’s Forced Comedy
Lack of Proper Story
Logicless Writing

Analysis:

Anil Ravipudi is one of the very few directors in Telugu who scored seven back-to-back successful films. Selecting a simple story and mixing it with enough fun moments at regular intervals is his success formula. He followed a similar approach even for ‘Sankranthiki Vasthunnam’.

The first half of the film passes without any major complaints. The film started slowly and the pace of the film picked once the setup shifts to Y D Raju and family. A couple of comedy sequences and a couple of songs worked very well in the first half and it gives a good satisfactory feeling to the audience. The editing during the pre-interval block should have been crisp though. This entire block is dragged for at least two to three minutes.

The good thing about Anil Ravipudi is that he knows the pulse of his target audience very well. The dialogues he wrote for the wife’s character and the innocent sequences he conceived involving husband and wife characters are sure to work out very well among his target audience, that is the families. Especially, the married women are sure to relate with Aishwarya Rajesh’s character and are likely to like her character immensely.

The real problem with the film is the lack of a proper story and over-the-top forced comedy in the second half. There are a few laughs generated in the second half but on the whole, the writing in the second half looked rushed, forced, half-baked and loud. Upendra Limaye’s character in the second half did not work as expected due to poor writing and the loud performance. It seems like the deadline to release the film for ‘Sankranthi’ was not given to the team enough time for writing. Also, the sudden inclusion of ‘Social Message’ related to teachers out of nowhere during the climax of the film seems unnecessary and doesn’t sync well with the rest of the film. Ravipudi and the team should have written and conceived at least one hilarious block on Bulliraju’s character in the second half just like how they used his character in the first half.

You may have to stop using your thinking brain throughout the film and excuse the over-the-top loud comedy in the second half to get entertained. Overall, Sankranthiki Vasthunnam is a decent passable entertainer to watch in theatres with family.

Sankranthiki Vasthunnam – Passable Entertainer

Rating: 2.75/5

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Movie Reviews

Red Rooms – Review | Psychological Serial Killer Thriller | Heaven of Horror

Published

3 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Red Rooms – Review | Psychological Serial Killer Thriller | Heaven of Horror

Watch Red Rooms on Shudder

This new dark psychological thriller is written and directed by Pascal Plante, who previously made Les faux tatouages (2017) and Nadia, Butterfly (2020). While I feel I have to describe Red Rooms as slow-burn, it really doesn’t feel like a slow movie.

It packs a real punch. Just in a different way!

Every cast member in this movie delivers a strong performance, but for me, it’s still very much about Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne. She’s the character we experience everything through. Even in long scenes, she’s always in the background. Watching and evaluating everything.

This is a Canadian movie (org. title: Les chambres rouges) which means the trial setting is different from the typical US setting. Instead, it’s more like the UK and French (for obvious reasons) trials you may have seen. However, this is another element that works perfectly.

Red Rooms premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. After its premiere, it went on to screen at several leading global film festivals. Including the Fantasia Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival.

Red Rooms begins Streaming On Shudder on January 14, 2025.

Movie Reviews

Sankranthiki Vasthunam Review: USA Premiere Report

Published

19 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Press Room

Sankranthiki Vasthunam Review: USA Premiere Report

Final Report:

Sankranthiki Vasthunam has a passably entertaining first half and a true-blue, over-the-top second half. It remains to be seen how both the target audience and general viewers will respond to it. Stay tuned for the full review.

First Half Report:

Sankranthiki Vasthunam’s first half is passable, with a few over-the-top fun moments that work for those who enjoy that style. Venkatesh as YD Raju runs the show as expected. The second half needs to deliver some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, as the setup for drama is light.

Sankranthiki Vasthunnam begins with a kidnap drama involving Akella (Srinivas Avasarala), stay tuned for the report.

Stay tuned for Sankranthiki Vasthunam review, USA Premiere report.

Sankranthiki Vasthunam marks the blockbuster combination of Venkatesh Daggubati and Anil Ravipudi, targeting the family genre, with Meenakshi Chaudhary and Aishwarya Rajesh set to tickle the funny bones of audiences. We need to see how solid the fun will be.

Cast:Venkatesh Daggubati, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Aishwarya Rajesh, Upendra Limaye, Sai Kumar, Naresh, VT Ganesh, Prithviraj, Srinivas Avasarala, Muralidhar Goud, Anand Rama Raju, Pammi Sai, Sai Srinivas, Mahesh Balaraj, Pradeep Kabra, and Chitti etc.,

Writer, Director: Anil Ravipudi
Presents: Dil Raju
Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations
Producer: Shirish
Music: Bheems Ceciroleo
Choreography : Bhanu Master
DOP: Sameer Reddy
Editor: Tammiraju

U.S. Distributor: Shloka Entertainments

This Week Releases on OTT – Check ‘Rating’ Filter

Movie Reviews

Wish You Were Here (2025) – Movie Review

Published

1 day ago

January 13, 2025

Press Room

Wish You Were Here, 2025.

Written and Directed by Julia Stiles.
Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Jimmie Fails, Gabby Kono, Jennifer Grey, Kelsey Grammer, Jordan Gavaris, Josh Caras, Antonique Smith, Jane Stiles, and Mike Carlsen.

SYNOPSIS:

A woman searching for a spark finds a whirlwind night of romance with a man only to discover he is terminally ill and commits to helping him spend his last days living life to the fullest.

Something is drastically off throughout the meet-cute/spontaneous first night spent between directionless restaurant server Charlie (Isabelle Fuhrman) and mural artist Adam. Unfortunately for Julia Stiles’ directorial debut Wish You Were Here (also penning the screenplay, adapting the book by Renée Carlino), it’s more a case of contrived screenwriting that forces one character to dance around an important topic because if these adults communicated like, well, adults, there wouldn’t be a movie.

There is a mutual attraction between Charlie and Adam, but the latter continuously speaks in something resembling riddles and mysteries about love. For some perspective, I was getting the impression that it would be one of those traveling-through-time rom-coms and that Adam is a reincarnated soul who had known Charlie in a previous life. When all is revealed, what’s actually happening here is so unbearably mawkish that all the genuine charm from Isabelle Fuhrman that the film was passably coasting on evaporates into this cloying trash pile.

After a successful first date that encompasses everything from personal conversations to connecting personalities to creating a mural together to capping the night off with sex, in the morning, Adam’s mixed messaging swings into full-on pushing Charlie away, insisting that this was a one-night stand and she knows it. Devastated, Charlie receives support from her longtime best friend/co-worker (Gabby Kono) and kooky parents (Jennifer Gray and Kelsey Grammar), with her mom and well-meaning jokester brother (Jordan Gavaris) teaming to sign her up for a dating service under the impression that some of her problems in life would be solved by finding the right man (a regressive mindset, for sure, but also the least of the film’s issues.)

To the film’s credit, Charlie does resist that notion but quickly gives in to the prospect of meeting up with an observant, handsome man (Jimmie Fails) who turns out to be a combination of a sensitive soul and a playfully passionate college football mascot costumer. It’s a crime that I don’t remember seeing Jimmie Fails since his tremendously evocative breakout work in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, something that this film cements; he’s the only one who consistently feels like a real, believable person here. That’s also helped because he has the least screen time of the three principal characters. Someone put him in a romance that’s actually good, ASAP.

That’s also not to say Isabelle Fuhrman is bad. As stated, she is charming and easy to get behind, working a job she hates (surrounded by obnoxious customers), hounded by her family to do something productive in life, having bad luck with relationships, and possessing a sweet spark. Adam comes back into the film for reasons that won’t be spoiled, and Wish You Were Here spirals, letting Isabelle Fuhrman down in the process and giving her nothing to do but weepy, aggressively emotionally manipulative nonsense. Also playing out in the background is a ridiculous subplot that sees her best friend also find love, move out of the room they share, and get engaged, all within what feels like less than a month.

It’s also made clear that Wish You Were Here is striving to say something resonant regarding ghosting (and how maybe we don’t always owe someone an explanation for doing so) and how a critical component of love comes down to timing. How Julia Stiles (presumably the book) tackles that message is nothing short of insufferable melodrama that forces two of its characters to service those themes rather than exist as people who feel human. The kindest thing that can be said is that, at the very least, the story doesn’t morph into a tasteless, ludicrous love triangle.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd

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