'Ninu Veedani Needanu Neene', starring Sundeep Kishan and Anya Singh, hit the screens this Friday. Here is our review of the thriller.
Story:
Rishi (Sundeep Kishan) and his wife Diya (Anya Singh) meet with a small accident one night. They unwittingly walk into a graveyard and their life undergoes a drastic change after this.
Rishi starts seeing a new face (Vennela Kishore) when he looks at the mirror, while Diya sees another woman. Terrified and perplexed at the same time, the couple wonder if they have been possessed by ghosts.
A hypnotist (played by Murali Sharma) investigates their case. The interval arrives with a twist, post which the plot thickens.
Who are the ones in the mirror? Why are Rishi and Diya seeing them? Answers to these and other questions are found in the second half.
Analysis:
First things first. 'Ninu Veedani Needanu Neene' is not a straightforward film. The screenplay is a bit twisted. The good thing is that the convolutions are not forced, at least to a major extent.
Debutant director Caarthick Raju comes armed with a fairly layered story that toys with the themes of identity crisis, losing loved ones, impermanence of life, redemption, and finding salvation in unconditional love after death. The writing department reserves the substantive part for the climax.
This brings us to what is found wanting in the first half. Two characters find emotional fulfillment in the climax phase and a montage song mirroring family bonding plays out during the episode. It would have made immense sense to introduce the pathos of the two characters in the first half itself.
The story is not just about Rishi but also about Diya. But the film neglects her character without a care in the world. What about her trauma? There should have been more of her.
The initial scenes adequately prepare the audience for the unreal. Murali Sharma plays a psychoanalyst and he keeps repeating that anything is possible in Nature. His trial and error method of treating Rishi comes unfleshed.
The interval twist is a shocker and the post-interval moments unravel the suspense in installments.
The film starts off in 2035 and comes back to 2013. While the futuristic scenes are largely indistinct, the 2013 scenes come with references to GST and the like!
In terms of performance, Sundeep Kishan ticks with his earnest acting. Characters played by Vennela Kishore and Posani do the comedy around him and he is supposed to show anything from anxiety to confusion. Anya Singh fits the bill as a damsel in distress. Murali Sharma and others are decent.
Thaman's songs and background music work, although the latter could have been better. Pramod Varma's cinematography is largely efficient, so also Chota K Prasad's editing.
Verdict:
The film fits the description of a multi-genre product that mixes a dash of paranormal activity and doses of comedy, horror, romance, and crime. Decent performances, reasonably gripping writing, sincere execution, and a twist. For a Telugu film, this one definitely tries novelty.
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