What's Behind
Super Star Mahesh Babu's brother-in-law Sudheer Babu has been carving a niche for himself doing different genre entertainers. He is getting ready to entertain movie lovers with Sridevi Soda Centre. The film's first look, teaser, and trailer generated interest among the masses. Let us see what the film directed by Karuna Kumar of Palasa fame offers to movie lovers.
Story Review
Suri Babu (Sudheer Babu), son of Narasayya (Raghu Babu) is known as Lighting Soori Babu for his expertise in lighting arrangements in his village. He wins a boat race against rivals supported by influential person Kasi (Pavel Navageethan). He falls in love with Sodala Sridevi (Anandi) after seeing her during a festive event in the village.
But things take a shocking turn when his father gets insulted and this brings tremendous changes in the blossoming romance of Suri Babu and Sridevi. To find out what are those shocking changes and how Sridevi's father (Naresh), Kodikatti Seenu (Ajay), Durga Rao(Satyam Rajesh) are connected to it, enjoy Sridevi Soda Centre on the silver screen.
Artists, Technicians Review
Karuna Kumar of Palasa 1978 fame tried to attract movie loves with a romantic entertainer adding mass elements in a rural backdrop. He started off in an interesting note with a boat fight sequence to keep viewers glued to the screen. However, from then on everything turned out to be routine and predictable. Be it the romantic thread, rural politics, and the so-called case backdrop, all those are seen by viewers in many of the Tollywood films and these things did not evoke interest.
The narration turned cliched and the routine story, cliched narration with uninteresting and insipid screenplay played the spoilsport. Even the so-called pre-climax and climax dragged testing the patience of the viewers. Karuna Kumar who highlighted the caste angle in Palasa 1978, did the same and tried to surprise viewers with the shocking twist in the climax. Except for the shocking climax, everything looked monotonous and by the time climax scenes came, most of the viewers turned disinterested.
The romantic scenes where Sooribabu slashes his hand to prove his love to Anandi looked extremely routine. Emotions went missing in almost all the scenes though Karuna Kumar tried to add Rangasthalm flavor to the story. The songs, fights, and everything looked forced and turned out to be artificial with all the actors passing through the motions. A couple of dialogues are good but overall the soul went missing in the film.
Sudheer Babu tried hard to attract viewers with his performance. He flaunted his abs but those scenes looked forced. Much to the shock of all, he failed to come with the right kind of expressions and emotions. Sudheer Babu should work hard to hone his acting skills. Anandi who made her debut with this film performed well. She looked good and impressed with her expressions. Pavel Navageethan made his presence felt with his impactful performance bringing in the right kind of expressions and body language on the screen. Naresh as Sridevi's father did well in a role that is completely different from the roles he generally does. Satyam Rajesh, Raghu Babu performed well in their roles. Harshavardhan is ok in his role. Ajay and Saptagiri did not get important roles.
Srikar Prasad's editing left a lot to be desired. There are many routine and repetitive scenes that slowed the pace of the film. Shamdat Shainuddin's cinematography showed the rural atmosphere in a realistic manner. He showed the boat fight quite well but could have filmed it in an even better manner. Manisharma's background score is good but could have been even more impactful. The songs are good but the placement is forced which impacted the film. Production values are good.
Advantages
Sudheer Babu's physique
Pavel Navageethan's performance
Climax
Disadvantages
Slow pace
Editing
Story, Screenplay, Direction
Rating Analysis
Karuna Kumar tried to surprise movie lovers with the shock element of honor killing in Sridevi Soda Centre. Though he elevated it in a powerful and impactful manner, the routine and predictable story, listless narration, missing emotions, and powerful expressions, undid all his hard work. Despite the commitment of Sudheer Babu and Anandi, the forced scenes and artificial flavor bringing back memories of Uppena, Rangasthalam, etc, affected the film negatively. Considering all these aspects, CJ goes with a 2 rating for Sridevi Soda Centre.