Puri Jagannadh’s Akash Puri’s second film, Romantic has generated decent buzz among the audience with its promotions. Co-starring Delhi beauty Ketika Sharma as the female lead, the film has hit the screens today. Let’s check how it is.
Story: Set in Goa backdrop, Vasco da Gama (Akash Puri) enter into the crime world to earn quick money. For the same, Vasco Da Gama along with his childhood friend Annie join Goa’s drug mafia gang and eventually gets grip on the Goa underworld. This is the time, Vasco falls for a young girl named Monica (Ketika Sharma). But as a twist, ACP Ramya( Ramya Krishna) enters the scene to nab the drug gang in Goa. What will Vasco Da Gama’s drugs mafia team do to escape from the cops? Will the police focus on drug dealers in Goa have any effect on the lead pair’s relationship? To know that, you have to watch the film in the theatres near you.
Performances: In terms of acting, Akash Puri improved a lot compared to his first film, Mehbooba. Be it his dialogue delivery or his screen presence, Akash portrayed himself in a new dimension and carried the entire film on his shoulders.
Delhi girl Ketika Sharma is glamorous on the screen and provides the required eye candy treat to the audience with her screen presence. The romantic angle between the lead pair has been presented in a decent manner.
Ramya Krishna did a good job in the given cop role. Other artists such as Ujjej, Sunayana and Rama Prabha are apt in their supporting roles. Hero Ram’s cameo fails to create an impact.
Technicalities: Sunil Kashyap’s music is a plus point for the film as his songs are passable on the screen. His background score is also good.
Editing by Junaid is okay. Cinematography work by Naresh Rana remains us of typical Puri Jagannadh’s previous films with some kind of s dark texture.
As most of the film was shot in Goa, the natural locations in and around the beach city are showcased nicely. Production values for this tight-budget film are okay.
Analysis: While Puri Jagannadh has provided story and screenplay, a debutant named Anil Paduri has directed Romantic which has a heavy dose of action and crime episodes throughout the film.
Story-wise, Romantic has a high influence of Puri Jagannadh’s previous films like Poriki, Heart Attack, 143 etc and his screenplay has a template hero-centric elevation episodes. Coming to the direction part, Anil Paduri did a decent job in executing this formulaic romantic film in a decent manner. The climax sequence is something that we usually won’t see in Telugu films and has been dealt with in a different manner.
To summerize, Romantic has a few romantic episodes between Ketika and Akash which will be loved by the mass and youth audience but the routine template hero elevation episodes and dialogue-oriented outdated treatment at regular intervals give a horrific feel to the audience.