Saptagiri debuts as a male lead. Here is our review of the release.
Story:
Saptagiri (Saptagiri) is the son of a head constable with aspirations to become a film star. Obsessed with acting, he pursues his dreams, much to the chagrin of his father.
Posani Krishna Murali and wife Hema are part of a flesh trade racket in cahoots with a dreaded criminal named Manikyam. The father is killed in a conspiracy and it's when Saptagiri gets the job of a constable.
It's up to the typical comedian in the town to turn into a hero and redeem his late dad's agenda.
Analysis:
Among the biggest cinematic mysteries of Tollywood is how our filmmakers continue to confuse genres. In one place, you have the comedy hero do gravity-defying fights like a mainstream hero. In another, you have him do it like fun when he is most needed to look earnest and prudent.
'Saptagiri Express' is in the mold of crime angle getting a predominantly comic treatment, appropriate or otherwise. Yes, the mandatory reliance on the media and making bakras of consummate criminals is there. As if all of this isn't enough, there is Ali (otherwise a good act), a doctor who stitches the mutilated hands of chain snatchers as if it were a parallel universe.
If you want to know about the romantic track, it stays at a rudimentary level right till the end. To give you a taste of it, the hero in a scene asks the heroine (debutante Roshini Prakash) to choose one among his thotti gang. This is in the second half! Just because it's not a rom com, does the romantic track has to be this half-baked?
Saptagiri deserves a pat on the back for shining through the theatre of the absurd. The 'Needi Ae Kulamu' monologue is a clap worthy moment. In a film peppered with doses of father-son sentiment, there are also gay rapes followed by a gay love track. Nothing wrong per se, but then amidst all this the basthi-mein-sawaal emotion of the hero is forgotten just because he is a comedian. Saptagiri tries his best to keep the house in order long after the screenplay has descended into stock elements.
The performances don't register themselves for the sketchiness they exude. The songs are as though Saptagiri is trying to push the limits.
The BGM goes missing in many places when it's not sub par.
Verdict:
This is a confusion of genres with loads of cinematic obsessions of Tollywood thrown in. Saptagiri gives a sincere output, although his characterization is inconsistent.
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