A trailer that appeared during the interval when I went to the movie ?Sankranthi? made me sit up and take notice. The brief Ad is racy with superb background score and excellent photography. The trailer is about the movie ?Soggadu? produced by legendary Suresh Productions, starring Tarun and Arti Agarwal. This is the third movie for the director Ravi Babu of ?Allari? fame. People who have seen that movie will recognize that he has a great liking to movies of ?American Pie? genre. This movie stands midway between those and normal Tollywood fares. There is no better time to release the movie as the lead pair?s much talked about affair hits the headlines, with Arti attempting suicide. I have a strong gut feeling that Tarun is the most underrated actor of the younger generation. His comedy timing, histrionics, dialogue deliveries are perfect. However for some reason success eludes him. All he needs is a hit. Will ?Soggadu? change his fortunes? Actually, the movie is not as good as the teaser.
Story:Tarun is a guy from old city in Hyderabad who appears for the tenth standard exams n number of times but could not make it. Though he does not have a single penny in his pocket to spend, he thinks as if he was the nawab of Hyderabad and takes part in every kind of misadventure. He sees Arti and instantly falls in love with her, while whisking away the bride from a marriage. Arti wants to meet and talk to him. Tarun thinks of Arti?s proceeds as love. Finally, after a couple of scenes he comes to know that she is in love with someone else and wishes to use his expertise in marrying him. The rest of the story is about how tarun succeeds in his task. I need not tell you who will finally marry the heroine in Indian films.
The movie is okay with bits of comedy thrown here and there. Though the ideas of the director are good, he did not succeed in bringing them out effectively. The flashback episode is boring and tests your patience like anything. Especially, the second hero. He does not even know the basics of acting and his inability to talk in telugu adds to the viewer?s woes. Unlike heroines, it?s not easy to make people accept a non telugu-speaking hero. Tarun starts running whenever he was overcome by emotions. It is creative.The titles and background score during the titles are great.
Music: Music by Chakri is excellent. ?Madhumasam? and ?Eppatikappudu edurai? stands apart with their foot tapping music. The theme for the song ?Madhumasam? is blue and ?Eppatikappudu? is vintage items. Both the songs are a treat to watch on the silver screen. This is chakri?s best album after a long time.
Characters: Tarun fits his role like a cork. He excelled in all the departments. Arti slimmed up a bit and she did her role well. The comedy episodes of Brahmanandam, kalpana rai with the lead pair failed to tickle the audiences. However, the director?s idea of showing older people?s problems is commendable. All other actors did their roles well.
The masses went ga ga when Venkatesh and Shreya flash in the last song. Srikanth and sumanth appears for brief moments in the movie.
The strengths of this movie are tarun, music and taking. The drawbacks are the second hero, boring flash back, loose screen play. The movie is a typical multiplex movie that can be watched having popcorn, bunking the college. Such movies should be made on a low budget. The high production values show that producer suresh babu has spent a fortune on the movie. Except for a few centers like Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Vizag, Andhra Pradesh is not yet ready to accept such movies. We have to wait and see if the summer season will make the distributors smile.