Battle of the underdogs this weekend

February, for Telugu cinema, has been a month where small and medium budget films have ruled the roost. It had all begun with Zombie Reddy, the first Telugu zombie film that earned mixed reviews and couldn’t reach its fullest potential at the box office owing to many reasons. Then came Uppena, which released amidst immense expectations, and earned a record opening, stunning trade pundits in the industry and continuing to wreak havoc at the box office. Jagapathi Babu starrer FCUK didn’t stand a chance amidst this tsunami

However, the third weekend of February is relatively unique. There are three story-driven films – Naandhi, Kapatadhaari and Chakra. Allari Naresh, Sumanth and Vishal star in these films and their promos have been promising to say the least. Naandhi clearly holds the edge among the three, marking Allari Naresh’s departure from comedy films, where the actor plays a prisoner wrongly accused of murder.

Sumanth’s film Kapatadhaari may have lacked buzz, but it’s a remake of a solid Kannada film Kavaludaari, an investigative thriller with a unique screenplay. Provided the word of mouth is good, it may spring a surprise. Vishal’s films always come in the minimum-guarantee space and Chakra is a massy film, though dubbed, has faces quite familiar to Telugu film audiences – Shraddha Srinath, Regina – to name a few. All these three films aren’t exactly crowd pullers, but sensibilities of audiences are changing and star power is not now the sole criteria for a film to succeed.