Thandel Review - Fairly Engaging with the Pleasing Romantic Aspect!

Ashwin Ram

Thandel is a romantic drama starring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi in the lead roles. The film is produced by Geetha Arts, directed by Chandoo Mondeti and the music is composed by Devi Sri Prasad.

Premise:

Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi are madly in love with each other. Hero with his group of fishermen go deep into the sea, due to a heavy thunderstorm they end up in Pakistan and are taken under custody for illegal entry. And, Sai Pallavi’s wait begins.

Writing/ Direction:

The initial stretch was exaggerated in all means, a couple of fight scenes were overpowering and were way beyond Naga Chaitanya’s on-screen stature. The relationship establishments in the beginning were worryingly cringe as well. Sai Pallavi’s presence is the saving grace until the film enters its primary conflict, which is the rift between the couple. Babloo Prithiveeraj who plays the heroine’s father narrates a convincing backstory that leads to the dispute between the lead pair. The flow is neat from there till the interval point where the emotional gap escalates additionally to a physical gap. Sai Pallavi’s characterization and her longing to get back with his man is the soul of the story, the second half maintains the arc to an extent. However there were plenty of deviations which kept taking the focus away from its core. Many disturbing stretches inside the Pakistan prison, not in a touching manner, but disgustingly presented. The issue is that their suffocation is not translated with care, even the basic point of changing the makeover of the prisoners has not been implemented to make us believe that they were imprisoned for two long years. Another letdown is opting to dub in Telugu for the Pakistani characters, which reduces the nativity of the script. The riot sequence followed by the forcefully placed jail fight in the patriotism backdrop failed to gain the intended momentum. The sequence in which Naga Chaitanya is stubborn in getting his fellowman’s identity is a terrific idea and it develops as a great scene when he gets to know how worse his personal situation is, the rise of the hero is truly showcased here and probably he could have earned the leader (Thandel) tag at this point rather than stressing on it throughout the movie. Barring the logical issues of conveniently meeting the Government officials and getting the work done, Sai Pallavi’s portions were likeable in the latter part also. The climax is predictable, yet sends us off with a smiling face.

Performances:

Naga Chaitanya fits perfectly as a fisherman, he is good when he is subtle and decent in the romantic scenes, but struggles when he has to be loud, especially during the heroic fights, etc. Sai Pallavi is indeed the show-stealer, pitch-perfect in terms of performance. Utilizes the importance of her character to the fullest and as always hits it out of the park with dance. Many Tamil actors like Karunakaran, Aadukalam Naren and Babloo Prithiveeraj are casted in key roles, but it was a bit odd watching them perform with voices given by random Telugu dubbing artists.

Technicalities:

Technically a sound film, solid album with enough variety from Devi Sri Prasad, lovely work except for overusing the ‘Aazaadi’ track towards the end. Commendable background score too, the main theme extracted from the ‘Bujji Thalli’ song is a little repetitive, otherwise there is so much originality in his music. Shamdat Sainudeen’s cinematography is top class, many creatively composed frames stand out and the commercially viable slow-motion shots are achieved like a cakewalk. Naveen Nooli’s editing is a mixed bag, while the transitions are smooth in spite of the story constantly taking place in dual locations, there is a good 15 minutes of scattered footage to be scissored for better engagement. Feels fine overall, but VFX waters down the crucial storm sequence, the director is at fault too for composing it in a half-baked manner by giving no time for staging. Tidy work by the stuntmen, Naga Chaitanya has noticeably improved with fights , but the impact is missing because of the pointless purposes.

Bottomline

Lands well when it flows with the core plot in which Sai Pallavi does wonders, powered with soulful music and breezy visuals. Tough time when the treatment goes overboard with the rough start and painful-to-sit-through prison portions.

Rating - 2.75/ 5