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Neatly packaged
Highlights
Tripura’ (Swathi), the film’s leading lady has a peculiar problem. Whatever she dreams, turns out to be true. So much so, in the scenic hamlet where she holds fort for her unique ability, she is a celebrity of sorts being the soothsayer for her neighbours. Of course
Tripura’ (Swathi), the film’s leading lady has a peculiar problem. Whatever she dreams, turns out to be true. So much so, in the scenic hamlet where she holds fort for her unique ability, she is a celebrity of sorts being the soothsayer for her neighbours. Of course, marriage is another cup of tea for such a person whose parents keep doing their best to palm her off to the first person who agrees.From here on, the story takes off on two different fronts— the medical and the professional one and the emotional, the other. In sync with the fast forward technique perfected by modern Telugu filmmakers which sacrifices logic at times, one thing leads to the other and before long, Swathi is married to the psychologist who is assigned to treat her and cure her of her troubles. This bloke (Naveen Chandra) carries a lady killer reputation. Added to it, he is shown squirming uncomfortably every time the murder incident, shown in the first reel of this horror thriller, in which a young woman loses her life, is referred to. Hot on its investigation trail is a cop who swears to nab the murderer at any cost as the dead woman was his ‘rakhi’ sister.
Thus, Raaja Kiran, fresh from the success of his earlier spooky hit ‘Geetanjali’, puts together a watchable fare with his current venture. The first half builds up the curiosity quotient pretty well, with the audience very keen to know how the hallucinating heroine ends up defeating the ghosts possessing her. Kiran lends the usual twists and turns to the film throughout, with scary, painted faces, dark shadows and sudden audio bursts.
Swathi’s ‘homely’ looks and overwhelmingly saree-clad appearance in this film posits it as a family entertainer, with a dash of comedy thrown in by Sapthagiri and Jayaprakash Reddy, lapped up by the audience, including this critic, enthusiastically.
One does not know whether it was deliberate or otherwise, the songs in the film lend a retro feel of the late ‘80s with a familiar ring to it, as if one has been hearing it all the while in the recent past. The post-murder cover up and the evil spirit twist too seem to have been an inspiration from earlier films, including the technique of the corpse being packed into a wall for its traceless disposal, reminding one of the dreaded serial killer Auto Shankar on whose life many films were made years ago.Despite issues here and there and the melodrama portion in the second half affecting the pace of the film to a sizeable extent, ‘Tripura’ is a reasonably good watch, a sure shot one for an excitement-seeking Telugu film lover. The psycho babble about dreams turning real and the non-existent instances of the reverse happening in normal lives is an issue which the director handles deftly, allowing the audience to make up its mind.
By K Naresh Kumar
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