I know I said this blog was for book reviews but I also did say it was for practicing my writing. Besides, I am feeling compelled to write a review about this movie. Without further ado let us get into it.
SPOILER ALERT: There are important plot points I have discussed down below that are considered spoilers. You have been warned! So, if you hate spoilers bookmark this page and come back to it after you have seen the movie.
For those unfamiliar with Indian movies – Naandhi is a Telugu language mainstream Indian movie (part of Tollywood). The movie is available in a few other Indian languages as well.
Let me get something straight before I write this review. I thoroughly enjoy Bollywood and Tollywood. I used to enjoy them unironically but since becoming an adult and seeing the world for what it actually is, I enjoy them secretly – in a nostalgic, childhood memory sort of way. I haven’t stopped enjoying them because the movies are all pretty much the same now, there are definitely some that are trying to experiment with the ‘formula’; I have stopped enjoying them because of the rampant misogyny and rape culture. Thank God or maybe the ‘woke’ audience for the reducing casual rape culture in Tollywood these days. Both genres of movies have a long way to go. Even the most liberal mainstream movies have their own set of flaws. Least of all is the gross age gap between the protagonists – which obviously is part of the patriarchy and misogyny I mentioned earlier.
I picked Naandhi as my first movie to review because I just had this urgent need to write down my thoughts about this movie. I have seen several movies in my life and very few of them have stood out for me as this one. In the last few years, I have also started to enjoy the art of filmmaking – I pay attention to things like camera angles, number of cuts per minute, mise-en-scene, etc. Naandhi is one of the first mainstream Telugu movies I have seen that has successfully pulled off one continuous no cut shot. That is it for the intro, let’s delve into the good and the bad of Naandhi.
The good – Allari Naresh is and has always been an extremely underrated actor, in my opinion. I was very impressed with him back when Nenu was released in 2004. He did an amazing job though the movie was slightly lacking. And that is true for Naandhi as well. Allari Naresh did a great job – his acting is on point. He was the right amount of dramatic and somber as the script demanded. He was expressive without over doing it, charming without being sloppy and overall a great casting choice.
The direction in the first two acts is amazing. Director Vijay was able to experiment within the realm of mainstream Telugu formulae and I think it was a risk that paid off. The 8 minute long shot of when Surya Prakash is finally released is so heartbreaking. The music, the direction, the lighting and the acting were fantastic. I re-watched that scene three times and you bet I cried. This was the scene that did it for me – the whole movie was made wonderful despite any shortcomings. Telugu movies tend to get overly melodramatic but the depth of this scene was just perfect.
I enjoyed the court scene when Aadhya calmly disproves the prosecution’s entire case with some brilliant matter-of-fact legal arguments – You would think the prosecution would have been more careful with the false evidence and testimony, it seemed a bit too weak to me but perhaps that was the point? To me, it felt as if the writer made the prosecution case so weak on purpose to show up Aadhya but maybe they were also trying to show the overconfidence of men in power?
This segues neatly into the bad – Naandhi’s social commentary is weak and falls flat – it is trying to bring awareness to convicts serving sentences while awaiting trial but Surya Prakash’s story is too unique and implausible to apply to any such convicts. It also fails to provide a solution. I think the movie tried to tackle too many topics – innocent people convicted for crimes they didn’t commit, corruption, powerful men being beyond law’s reach, under trial convicts and I wish they had just picked one cause to fight for. In the end, the message was unclear.
The entire third act seemed like a last minute put together pandering to the masses. The story was hurried, there was unnecessary violence, the ending was plain stupid and the entire mood of the movie was ruined. Up until then, there was this obvious subtlety, a balanced melodrama and a darkish tone but the third act was plain masala. If I were to re-watch the movie, I will always end after the 8-minute long shot of Surya Prakash being released and that’s my true ending. I am going to pretend the third act never happened.
In conclusion, I would rate the first two-thirds of the movie a 4/5, the last third a 1/5 and so overall – 3/5.
What did you think about the movie? Have you seen it? Are you going to watch it? Let me know in the comments!
Across the Ocean 