Carved a niche for himself by doing unconventional films, actor Sree Vishnu is coming up with yet another unusual film Thippara Meesam directed by Krishna Vijay of Asura fame. Will Sree Vishnu continue success streak?
Mani Shankar (Sree Vishnu) is a carefree, self-seeking drug addict who hates his mother Lalitha (Rohini) to the core for a reason that she admits him to a rehabilitation center during school days. Since then, he lives alone working as a DJ at pub. Mani is also a betting addict, besides having uncountable other bad habits. He falls in love with fan Maunika (Nikki Tamboli) who too likes him. Mani owes a ransom to a bookie and to pay his money back he opts to play risky games. Unexpectedly, Mani is arrested in a murder case of local MLA's with whom he had brawl before. Did Mani really commit the crime? What brings change in him about mother? What happens to Mani and Maunika’s love? Who is now raring to kill Mani? Who wins the final battle?
This is a protagonist centered film laced with mother sentiment as the main driving force. Other than that, the film doesn’t have other strong conflicting point. The treatment was intense, raw and has flavor of Arjun Reddy. Because of forcibly included scenes, the narration appears tedious most of the time. Unconvincingly, mood and emotions change all of sudden because of poor characterization and defective writing. More importantly, the reason shown for Sree Vishnu hating his mother was unrealistic. Nonetheless, last 20 minutes episodes of flashback and emotional connect are best portions. About direction, Krishna Vijay gets just pass marks for his belief on subject which hasn't got any script.
Fortunately, Krishna Vijay has got complete support from technical team. Sid’s cinematography is top class with different tints to portray different moods. Suresh Bobbili with lively background score gives life to the inadequately written scenes. The songs however are mediocre. Editing by Dharmendra Kakarla adds to the negatives as the length is too long for this dark genre. Production values are fine.
Onto performances, Sree Vishnu broke free from his boy-next-door image by playing an arrogant spoilt youngster and he steals the show with his decent performance. Though character selected is a wrong choice, he did justice. Nikki Tamboli is not given enough space and looks wise she is average. Rohini like always has come up with tremendous performance as hero’s mother. She makes you emotional and brings back memories with our mother. Benarjee too got a meaty role. No other artist makes an impact.
Sree Vishnu
Mother Sentiment
Cinematoraphy
Tedious Screenplay
Poorly Written Characters
Length
Lack Of Commercial Elements
Predictability
Promotional content promised it Thippara as not a regular film and has strong story. But, Krishna Vijay who won accolades for writing and direction on his debut flick Asura has botched in both the departments in second film. Except for mother sentiment, the film is full of unnecessary episodes and screenplay was forcibly dragged to narrate the greatness of mother in the end.
The film begins on serious note with police beating Sree Vishnu and enemies waiting outside to kill him after release from the jail. The setup makes us curious to know the reason behind all these happenings. But, all the hopes go in vain with pointless proceedings. For a simple reason, Sree Vishnu develops hatred on his mother but he visits her only when he needs money. Betting games would at least have elevated heroism. No single game in the film is compelling. Pre-interval and interval episodes are also unpersuasive.
Latter half begins on tedious note with Sree Vishnu dragging his mother to court for money. However, Rohini’s act showcases mother’s concern on her son irrespective of his character and status. The last game like previous ones was not so engaging. Nonetheless, last 20 minutes is engaging with convincing flashback, followed by Sree Vishnu’s realization. Then climax depicts that he is here to protect family, besides gearing up to take on enemies.
All in all, Thippara Meesam fails to live up to the expectations. Of course, lots of efforts are put in by the lead cast and technical team but poor writing played spoilsport. Barring the mother sentiment, the film has no engaging elements. Although team Thippara beleived strong in subject and tried to be different, they could not present the same on screen. CJ goes with 2.25 stars only for the efforts from technical team. Box office wise, we need to wait and see!