Senior filmmaker K Raghavendra Rao under his directorial supervision is introducing Srikanth and Ooha’s son Roshan with a film titled, Pelli SandaD. Directed by Gowri Ronanki, the film had its theatrical release today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: Vashista( K Raghavendra Rao), a retired basketball champion starts narrating his life story to a businessman (Rajendra Prasad). The film showcases Vashista’s young age love story with the heroine Sahastra (Sree Leela). Where will Vashista come across Sahastra? What kind of difficulties will Vashista face in his love and life journey? Forms the rest of the tale.
Performances: Roshan is impressive in the lead role as young Vashista. His screen presence and handsome looks are an advantage for the film. Acting wise, Roshan gave a decent performance and his dialogue delivery is attractive with much clarity and grip on the Telugu language. But he should focus on his facial expressions as his acting during the emotional scenes is not up to the mark.
Director K Raghavendra Rao gave an okay performance with his acting in the film. But the legendary director, who has directed more than 100 films has failed to add life to his scenes on the screen.
New face Sree Leela is captivating and her chemistry with Roshan is adorable. Acting-wise, Sree Leela gave an okayish performance.
Prakash Raj as the heroine’s father gave his usual performance. Other actors who acted in key roles are decent with their performances.
Technicalities: Music by MM Keeravaani is alright as two songs are good. But his background remains us of his 90s work. Cinematography by Sunil Kumar Nama is adequate as visuals look decent at times.
Graphics and VFX work is alright. Editing by Tammiraju is disappointing as it lacks sharpness.
Production values for this limited budget movie are good.
Analysis: Debut director Gowri Ronanki failed to handle the script in an effective manner which is a big minus for the film. As the story is a simple love drama, she would have working more on the scene order by incorporating entertainment and commercial elements. Instead, she skipped adding any impactful episodes in the narrative. Adding to it, the screenplay version is dull and filled with predictable and unengaging proceedings.
Raghavendra Rao’s direction supervision also did not save the film. Most of the film runs on a unengaging note with outdated proceedings and fails to connect to this generation audience.
To summerize, Pelli SandaD is a routine love drama that has ages old template scenes and narration. Though Roshan is handsome, his expressions are not up to the mark. Overall, Pelli SandaD is a disappointing watch during this festival weekend.