‘Ante Sundaraniki’ film evaluation: Vivek Athreya’s humour-laced drama is powered successfully by Nani, Nazriya, Rohini and Naresh

In a scene that seems in direction of the tip of the Telugu movie Ante Sundaraniki, Sundar Prasad’s (Nani) boss Chandra Mohan (Harshavardhan) chides him for not revealing the nice half first. He causes that he would have heard the story in peace relatively than getting careworn concerning the ups and downs. This character often voices the ideas of the viewers. Can Sundar Prasad, who hails from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin household, and Leela Thomas (Nazriya Nazim), a Christian, persuade their households and get married? That is only one a part of the story as a result of, in his third movie, writer-director Vivek Athreya delivers a exceptional social commentary although it’s cloaked in humour. 

Sundar and Leela’s story is complicated, intertwined with what occurs of their respective households. How they go about life is formed by a sum of their experiences since childhood. Isn’t this the common reality? 

The worlds of Sundar and Leela purportedly match right into a stereotype — avakaya and wine and cheese, if you’ll. They grow to be conduits for Vivek Athreya to put naked the unfairness and hypocrisy that masks the innate goodness in individuals. He does that with class and wit.

Take into account Sundar’s world. Since he’s the one male inheritor, each resolution is made with the recommendation of an astrologer. As a boy, he’s given a ladybird bicycle to be on the safer facet. His father (V Ok Naresh) is not going to have an adolescent Sundar cross the seas to go to the US; by no means thoughts if he misses out on the possibility to behave in a Chiranjeevi movie. The mom’s (Rohini) emotional manipulation to persuade the grandmother (Aruna Bhikshu), a veena artiste, helps. Be careful for Vivek Sagar’s efficient music right here, and thru the movie the place he blends classical and modern beats. What occurs on this portion helps to ascertain how Sundar grows up with emotional baggage, unable to drum up the braveness to chalk his personal path.

His childhood pal Leela fares higher, however her path is intertwined with that of her sister (Tanvi Ram). The additional warning that her mother and father (Azhagam Perumal and Nadiya) comply with has a domino impact. 

When the 2 worlds collide, the journey progresses with an online of lies that additional complicates issues. The household drama is populated with quite a few characters, but no person is a bystander. From the grandmother to a boy who is available in a two-minute scene, everybody performs a particular half. 

Nani is in acquainted territory, along with his impeccable aptitude for comedy. Expectedly, the conservative household conditions lend to humour. Laughs additionally come the place least anticipated — like why he’s on billboards.  When Sundar’s frustration hits the roof post-intermission, the laughs are aplenty. There’s a pleasant scene the place a boy is pumping air into the cycle and Nani snatches it and rides off halfway, with the pump nonetheless hanging from the cycle. Nani will get each the comedian and emotional beats proper and manages to grow to be Sundar alongside the journey. 

Fairly a little bit of emphasis is on the adolescent Sundar and Leela, to the extent that we agree when Harshavardhan cuts Sundar brief and asks him to get on with the current. These parts, nonetheless, serve to clarify later why Sundar is caught up to now, unable to have mature conversations along with his household and Leela’s, to kind out variations. One thing has to alter deeply for sure individuals, and households to show a brand new leaf. Points comparable to impotency and being pregnant grow to be these instruments. On this world of lies, chopping near the bone is the presence of Leela’s sister and what she goes by means of. 

Heard of the assertion that when lies are advised repeatedly, one tends to imagine in them? The parts the place Leela and Sundar wallow in guilt hit a uncooked nerve, regardless of a gradual influx of humour within the type of ‘thadasthu devathalu’. The almost three-hour-long movie feels a bit stretched. Nonetheless, a key eating desk sequence adopted by Rohini’s residence truths to her household makes all of it worthwhile. 

In her first Telugu movie, Nazriya is efficient. Rohini and Naresh herald authenticity and credence to their components and are ably supported by Azhagam Perumal and Nadiya. Additionally, be careful for Srikanth Iyengar because the astrologer and Rahul Ramakrishna. The scene involving him and Naresh is hilarious. Anupama Parameswaran and director Venkatesh Maha seem in prolonged cameos, nudging the story ahead.

Vivek Athreya is ably supported by cinematographer Niketh Bommi, Vivek Sagar’s music, Latha Naidu’s manufacturing design and editor Ravi Teja Girijala.

With household dramas in mainstream Telugu cinema usually restricted to giant completely happy households dressed of their finery, it is a reasonable depiction of characters which can be each endearing and flawed. Does it benefit a viewing? A powerful sure.