Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada Review

Ekkadiki Pothadu Chinnavada Review, What’s Behind: Young hero Nikhil grabbing interesting scripts off late is back in the game with EPC hitting screens today. Directed by VI Anand starring Hebbah Patel, Nandita Swetha in female leads, let us see how far this supernatural is worth the wait?

Ekkadiki Pothadu Chinnavada Story: Arjun (Nikhil), working as a VFX expert is a love failure. Treating his friend (Vennela Kishore) possessed with an evil spirit using Tantric methods, Arjun reaches Mahishasura Mardhani Temple in Kerala where he meets Amala (Hebbah Patel) from Vijayawada and falls again in love. However Arjun misses Amala in Kerala and goes chasing her to Vijayawada where he finds that Amala is dead long back. Fact is Amala’s soul used a girl called Nithya (Hebbah Patel)’s body to fall in love with Arjun. Now that Nithya’s body is unreachable, Amala’s soul uses one more girl Parvathi (Nanditha Swetha)’s body in Tamil Nadu to comeback. Who is Amala? What’s her past connection with Arjun? 

Ekkadiki Pothadu Chinnavada Artists and Technicians: EPC is a love cum super natural thriller played between four characters. Story is quite interesting because a soul returning back to fulfill her last wish in love instantly connects. Beginning the narration with Nikhil’s failure love story and taking us to Kerala was a neat screenplay. However, the romantic track on Nikhil, Hebbah was dealt feebly. Till the pre interval block, the surprising element doesn’t come up. Later on, VI Anand’s direction went on entertaining lines with Nandita Swetha’s entry. Except logical loop holes at certain instances, the direction is acceptable with many ups and few downs. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi worked well in Nikhil’s first love story. Sai Sreeram’s camera work is worth acceptable in catching Chikmaglur visual beauty. Chota K Prasad’s editing should have got little fine tuned in first half. Shekar Chandra’s RR is good while couple of songs is catchy. VFX synced well. Production standards from PV Rao and Meghana Arts are appreciable.

Coming to artists, Nikhil yet again showed maturity in selecting different scripts. He cakewalked in Arjun characterization suffering with a soul chasing him in love. After Swamy Rara and Karthikeya, this is one more creative challenge from Nikhil and he does decently. Nandita Swetha got an expressive face exploited well in second half. She took the second half into control and managed wonderfully. Hebbah Patel looked odd and is just ok. Vennela Kishore, Sathya and other comedians batch evoked laughter. Avika Gor’s cameo comes at crucial part. Rest of the artists like Tanikella and others made their presence felt.

EPC Advantages:

1. Interesting Plot

2. Nanditha Swetha, Nikhil

3. Second Half

4. Vennela Kishore, Sathya Comedy

5. Flashback Love Story

6. Thrilling Narration

7. Camerawork

EPC Drawbacks:

1. Weak Takeoff

2. First Half Love Story

3. Lengthy Climax

4. Missing Logics

5. Hebbah Patel

6. Boredom In Parts

Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada Rating Analysis: It’s a welcome change for all those audience waiting for genuine thrilling elements in horror films. Soul transformation from one body to other is a decent idea. Execution could have been far better at times and VI Anand definitely got little more homework to do. Without going for forcible comedy tracks insertion, VI Anand ensured that fun is well mixed in right portions for thrilling narration drive. He added lot of freshness roping in Nandita Swetha and hilarious tracks written on Vennela Kishore, Sathya and other artists.

First half is used to build a right tempo for second half to unveil new twists with thrill. Romantic scenes shot in Kerala between Nikhil, Hebbah Patel are just average while the soul trapping methods used in witchcraft are goose bumps. Pre interval is handled supremely as Nanditha Swetha’s entry and Nikhil’s scary expressions are captivating.

Second half starts off with loads of comic entertainment. Nikhil and his friends trying to escape from Nanditha and following comic portions although went on old format yet passed the time. Towards pre climax, opening the flashback love story bought a genuine emotion. Climax is although lengthy and dragged beyond an extent, logically it would have dealt far better with one or the other out of the box point.

Commercially, EPC made on a shoestring budget can be a safe winner at Box Office. Film has definite thrilling elements spread evenly throughout the execution. EPC is not a regular horror comedy; it has got good number of twists, turns in screenplay. If you expect something new from a Nikhil movie, this is worth a watch for weekend. CJ rates EPC with 2.75 stars for a peculiar story element and clean performances from Nikhil, Nanditha Swetha.

Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada CJ Verdict: A Thrilling Ride In Love.

                                                      Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada CJ Rating: 2.75/5.0

                                                                                                          Reviewed by Srivaas