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Thandel Review

Director: Chandoo Mondeti
Producer: Bunny Vasu
Release Date: Fri 07th Feb 2025
Thandel Rating: 2.75 / 5
Thandel Punchline: Magic with Music !

Thandel (2025) Movie: What's Behind

Naga Chaitanya after scoring a romantic hit with Love Story tasted reverses at the box office with films like Thank You and Custody. Even his pan India entry with a special role in Mr.Perfectionist Aamir Khahn's most prestigious film Lal Singh Chaaddha failed to make an impression as the film turned out to be a huge disaster. In the midst of all this, he is once again teaming with talented beauty Sai Pallavi with whom he scored a hit like Love Story for his upcoming film Thandel. The film is releasing on 7 February and with Chandoo Mondeti who shot to fame with his spiritual entertainer Karthikeya 2 across the nation, expectations are high. Naga Chaitanya give in everything spending years for the film and even mastering the Srikakulam accent. Let us see whether Naga Chaitanya hit the jackpot at the box office with Thandel.

Naga Chaitanya's Thandel: Story Review

Thandel story revolves around the rugged experiences of fishermen from Srikakulam who found themselves accidentally drifting into Pakistani waters during a routine fishing trip. Where this leads to and the interesting developments in their lives form the rest of the narration.

Satya (Sai Pallavi) loves her fiancee Raju (Naga Chaitanya) who makes a living as fisherman in Srikakulam. However Satya has her own fears and inhibitions and one fine day Satya's fears cometrue with regards to Raju and from then on their lives turn upside down.

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What are those fears and what ordeal Raju underwent and how it is connected to Pakisani Jailer (Prakash Balawadi) form the interesting part of the narration.

Sai Pallavi's Thandel: Artists Review

Naga Chaitanya performance comes as a pleasant surprise to one and all. It is quite difficult to  match Sai Pallavi's natural performance but this time, he did the incredible. He underwent remarkable transformation as a fisherman and his hard work paid off. He delivered dialogues in Srikakulam accent with ease and elevated the scenes with his emotions and expressions. He owned and lived in the role of Raju with subtle performance. His screenpresence played a key role in taking the film to another level.

Sai Pallavi beautified the role of Satya as she played in his own impeccable style. Her mannerisms and body language shows it all. She delivered dialogues naturally and in a realistic way. However with viewers used to Sai Pallavi's impactful performances, they find it nothing new. This is not her fault but the director could have added more depth to her character.

Prakash Belawadi played the role of Pakistani jailer and did justice to it. Karunakaran performed well and made his presence felt. Divya Pillai, Karunakaran, and Mahesh Achanta performed according to their roles leaving no scope to complain. But all those roles turned out to be predictable.

Chandoo Mondeti's Thandel: Technicians Review

Thandel story penned by Chandoo Mondeti is a blend of romantic and patriotic elements involving the lives of the fishermen. He starts the narration in a beautiful way elevating the romantic bonding and love between Sai Pallavi and Naga Chaitanya. The songs Hilesso Hilessa and Shiva Shiva takes the narration to new level making viewers glued to the screen. He showed how Raju becomes Thandel Raju with the song Namo Namah Shivaay but the lead to it is not that impactful.

For all these developments the slow pace in the first half for more than a hour tests the patience of all. However the episodes involving Sai Pallavi and Naga Chaitanya and their performances compensate for it and the interval twist sets the tone for the second half. The second half is full of surprises and it offers a completely different plot.

The emotional and love story of Sai Pallavi and Naga Chaitanya takes a backseat and the narration shifts to Pakistani jail and Chandoo Mondeti tries to take it to another level with patriotic flavor. All those scenes and action blocks adds more routine flavor to the narration robbing viewers of the cinematic experience. He completely forgot the love angle of Sai Pallavi and Naga Chaitanya and went on to talk about Articile 370, Indo-Pak conflicts adding an unwanted political angle.

Further more, the underdeveloped character of Sai Pallavi, failed to elevate her emotional trauma which would have taken to new level had it been addressed. Director Chandoo Mondeti, must have forgotten that he planned a love story in Pakistani backdrop and fishermen but instead tried to address all the political issues turning the final output neither here nor there.

Chandoo Mondeti came up with a decent story but the deviations, convenient screenplay and cliched elements along with the slow pace played the spoilsport for all the impactful and effective and heartouching dialogues and conversations between the lead pair.

The music and background score stands out in the film and credit goes to rock star Devi Sri Prasad. Devi Sri Prasad with his background music elevated the romantic and emotional scenes taking viewers into the story and get immersed in it. All the songs had realistic and melodious feel and are shot in a beautiful manner. The songs  ‘Hilessaa’, ‘Namo Namassivaya’, and ‘Bujji Talli’ casts a magic spell on viewers.

Naveen Nooli's editing could have been better. The pace of the film got bogged down especially in the second half due to repetitive scenes. Geetha Arts production values are of high standard and Thandel turned out to be a quality product.

Thandel Movie: Advantages

  • Naga Chaitanya, Sai Pallavi
  • Songs, BGM
  • Cinematography

Thandel Movie: Disadvantages

  • Cinematic Liberties
  • Predictable Patriotic Scenes
  • Missing emotional bonding

Thandel Telugu Movie: Rating Analysis

Altogether, Thandel attracts with real-life elements making viewers connect with the romantic elements associated with it. Chandoo Mondeti got the optimum out of the cast and crew. While Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi came up with terrific performances, Devi Sri Prasad elevated them with the songs and BGM and Shamdat Sainuddin captivates viewers with the pleasing visuals. Little fine-tuning of the script, avoiding convenient screenplay and cinematic liberties would have turned the film even stronger. Considering all these elements, Cinejosh goes with a 2.75 rating for Thandel.



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