'Nindha', directed and produced by Rajesh Jagannadham, hit the cinemas today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.
Plot:
Varun Sandesh, playing the role of Vivek, takes a group hostage, including a cop, a doctor, a lawyer, a constable, and two commoners. Vivek is on a mission to uncover the truth behind the arrest of Balaraju (Chatrapathi Shekar) in a botched-up rape-and-murder case in Andhra Pradesh's sleepy village of Kandrakota. The rest of the story is about how Balaraju's true identity and motives are established, and how Vivek goes out of his way to fulfill a promise.
Performances:
Varun Sandesh is unremarkable through and through. One wonders why he chose a constricted role of this sort at a time when OTTs are producing much better characterizations. Picking a one-note actor like Chatrapathi Sekhar to play Balaraju was a blunder. You are never drawn to sympathize with him. He is incapable of confusing the audience, which is what was required for the character.
Annie of 'Rajanna' fame can be chosen for substantial roles by filmmakers in the future. Tanikella Bharani plays a teary, melodramatic retired judge who holds several clues but is too lazy to share them with the one who needs to know them.
Technical aspects:
The film's technical quality is functional. The frames are not raw but they are not plastic either. The cinematography by Ramiz Naveeth is half-commendable. Santhu Omkar's music is passable and Anil Kumar P's editing is decent.
Post-Mortem:
Some crime thrillers and mysteries are difficult to sit through because they are desperately dull. Some other movies are hard to watch because they are dull and convoluted. 'Nindha' belongs to the latter category. It narrates a very basic, uncreative plot in a roundabout fashion.
The USP of the movie is this - a few men who may have done some wrong with or without their knowing are held hostage by a virtuous, uncompromising investigator. This hostage drama, however, is staged so absurdly that nowhere do you find the whole hullabaloo inevitable. Varun Sandesh's character comes across as a terrible teenager who has become a vigilante after watching some movies. And the captives themselves are so unserious that they actually overtalk out of excitement. After all, it is their first near-death experience in life.
The plot points are extremely convenient. One of the captives suffers from colour blindness. Besides, the whole bunch rarely looks dangerous enough to warrant the whole nutty experiment.
The idea of a sincere cop/officer wanting to have an open-and-shut case reopened is not novel. A lot of cop thrillers have explored it thoroughly too many times. In 'Nindha', the protagonist's failure to exhaust the options presented by the system sticks out like a sore thumb.
The climax is the only watchable segment, which too would be inadequate and even laughable if you have been attentive from the start. The viewers can make a reasonably smart guess about the villain of the piece.
Closing Remarks:
'Nindha' is one of those films that is marred by needlessly over-smart story-telling.
