Review of the film “Sri Ranga Neethulu”: An outstanding slice-of-life comedy that honors its world

‘Sri ranga Neethulu’ has three storylines, one of which centers on Aishwarya (Ruhani Sharma) and Varun (Viraj Ashwin), a young couple who find it difficult to express to their traditional parents that they want to be married. Aishwarya also has another potential suitor who poses a risk to the pair. This groom might have easily been written off as nefarious, superficial, or caricatured, but the movie surprises us. He also presents himself as someone who has too much insight and knowledge for others around him, after a scene with him that has us laughing uncontrollably. Despite spending just four minutes in the movie, he is more complex and nuanced than the typical romantic drama protagonist.

 

With his first feature film, filmmaker Praveen Kumar VSS makes a statement in this way. “Sriranga Neethulu” is one of the few movies that really captures the spirit of dramedy, deftly balancing the two opposing extremes of the genre.

The story of four young individuals whose circumstances are sympathetic, real, and sometimes all too uncomfortable is told in “Sri Ranga Neethulu.” Suhas portrays Samson Shiva, a regular electronics repairman who wants his charitable activities to be known to everyone, particularly those in his neighborhood. In the meanwhile, drug addict Karthik (Karthik Rathnam) doesn’t appear to want to get his life back on track. Then there are Aishwarya and Varun, two top members of the upper middle class, who are now having to deal with the fallout from their family’s underlying conservatism. Despite being parallel to one another, these three stories are related.

Here is plenty to be delighted in. Not only are the scenarios ridiculously funny, but they also perfectly capture the story’s emotional core. At one point, Aishwarya (Ruhani) gets a video call from her future mother-in-law that she feels forced to answer. She discovers a room corner that provides no information about her whereabouts. Aishwarya is misguided, however, since her room is full with secrets and bombshells that her elders would be better off being ignorant about. The problem with being a young romantic in today’s world is that, while you are all about expression and truth, your own folks are probably not prepared to hear it. We are also kept interested in the story by the performances in the movie.

As one may assume, Suhas’s depiction of Shiva is captivating. The way Ruhani Sharma gives her role a subtle dignity without becoming subdued is excellent. In contrast, Karthik Rathnam gives the most difficult performance in the movie, portraying a guy who is primarily concerned with navigating an internal tempest while keeping an uninterested façade.

This kind of movie relies as much on form as it does on narrative, and the filmmaker knows this. Due solely to Praveen Kumar’s fine use of tone, several of these scenes come together. The movie never fails to remind us that Karthik is a flawed man despite his extreme recklessness. The film’s best scene, in which Shiva tries to exact revenge on his competitors late at night, features brilliant use of sound effects and fast edits by the filmmaker to build tension.

Even though our protagonist’s safety is in jeopardy in this scenario, our laughter serves as a tension-reliever. It has an effect because the humor builds with every passing second until suddenly exploding with a sinister twist.

The movie stumbles in its latter act, as the story becomes sanctimonious in an attempt to give its heroes a happy ending. The last showdown between Aishwarya and Varun seems rather forced since the connection between them—including their fundamental conflict—is not well defined.

However, the way Shiva and Karthik face their demons is even more compelling. In particular, Karthik’s trip is remarkable. He exhibits no signs of self-reflection or atonement throughout his fall, but when he has a significant talk with an old person, everything becomes clear. Karthik’s metamorphosis seems more merited as a result. Because Devi Prasad’s Karthik’s father is the most compelling supporting character, Karthik’s narrative is also the most endearing.

It is easy to first see Karthik’s father as just another contemptuous dad who understands how to be unhappy with his kid. But as the story goes on, we begin to identify more with the father figure than with Karthik. This is a middle-aged dad who, in the worst of situations, supports his self-destructive kid without ever snapping. It’s unexpected given how we were introduced to him. After then, the narrative focuses just as much on Karthik’s father as it does on Kartik. “Sri ranga Neethulu” is notable for its compassion for children as well as the generation that brought them up.

Watching a movie that views its whole world as one and, in turn, respects its inhabitants with equal dignity and complexity is refreshing in an era when movies are increasingly concentrating on good versus evil tales. ‘Sri Ranga Neethulu’ is essentially a film that is concerned in the human condition, despite its limits. Regarding how many recent Telugu movies is that true?