Suffers from nativity issues

In times when Telugu cinema is still struggling to achieve an identity of its own thanks to the influence of other cultures alien to our land, 'Tungabhadra' just adds up to all that.The bearded hero Adith, Satyaraj and the setting of the film a la a typical Tamil rural film, remind you of the Telugu-dubbed 'Anantapuram 1980'. Guess it would be uncommon to find a village of the sort you find in the film anywhere in AP or Telangana!

Well, it could possibly be that director Srinivas Krishna Gogineni is totally in love with the rural flicks that Kollywood often churns out. He pairs that with a message he flicks in and adds a pinch of commercial elements too. Sadly, the end result doesn't achieve what he desired to say.

The film is set in a village with two faction groups – Ramaraju (Satyaraj) and Paiditalli (Kota Sreenivas Rao) – being the chief of each – ever ready for a brawl. The story unfolds around the duo's political influences where any of the two groups can ruthlessly kill members of their opponent group provided their party is in power.

In the midst is Srinu (Adith), a man working for Ramaraju. He's asked to watch the latter's daughter Gowri (Dimple Chopade) and verify if she is in love with anyone. And predictably, the duo fall for each other. But Srinu doesn't accept it as it would mean cheating his boss.What happens next with the lovelorn couple and what's the fate of the faction forms the rest of the story.

'Tungabhadra' is a period film set in the late '80s or the early '90s. There's no particular reason for the time transition except that the director can make us of the Tamil-esque backdrop. Interesting though, are the picturisation of songs, that will definitely take you back to an era forgotten, with their slow-mo shots.

Though the slow pace of the songs is visually appealing, the biggest flaw here is that the rest of the film also moves on in the same pace. Unnecessary insertion of songs and comedy tracks spoils what could have been an above average offering. The love story between the lead pair is too cinematic even for cinema!

The film has good performances by everyone-- from the lead cast to supporting characters. Adith gives a decent performance but his beard looks synthetic. Sathyaraj's performance stands out. The film's background score is pretty decent specially compared to the sound track. Meanwhile, we are still wondering why the film is called 'Tungabhadra'.

Film Name : Tungabhadra

Cast : Satyaraj, Adith and Dimple Chopade

Direction : Srinivas Krishna Gogineni

Genre : Drama (action)

Likes : Lead performances and cinematography

Dislikes : Setting and the story

By Pranita Jonnalagedda