The politics, drama and conflict points emerge gradually. But she realises that its very presentation might challenge superstitious beliefs and hence invite trouble.Īt first, the story appears simple and straightforward. She believes she is the chosen one to narrate the story of Kadambari, which her guru shared with her when she was a little girl. Sithara (Sandhya Raju) grows up learning dance and is eager to prove herself to be worthy of a rangapravesam in the presence of her guru (Adithya Menon). The story unfolds in a fictional dance village called Natyam, which serves as a hat tip to the Kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh as well as dance-centric schools such as Kalakshetra that are mini universes unto themselves. Sandhya leads from the front, accompanied by several actor-dancers, in this film that begins well but loses steam midway.Īlso Read | Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. Debut director Revanth Korukonda and dancer Sandhya Raju deserve appreciation for venturing into a territory not many would dare to. A premise like that is unusual in contemporary Telugu cinema. But the film falls flat during the second half as the love story is weak, routine, and lacks the needed emotion making Paagal a half-baked love story.A film that revolves around classical dance, produced by and starring a Kuchipudi dancer, attempts to draw a parallel between a contemporary story and a fictional tale dating back to pre-Independent India. The comedy keeps the audience entertained and Vishwak Sen does well.
On the whole, Paagal is a romantic drama with a decent first half. But when it comes to the key love story, he rushes up things and narrates the love story with a confusing characterization of the heroine. By terming hero as Paagal, he has written good scenes and comedy in the first half. Dialogues and screenplay were good in the first half but it was ordinary in the second.Ĭoming to the director Mahesh, he has done a half-baked job with the film. The production values are good as Vizag and its surrounding areas are showcased well. The music of the film is pretty good but the BGM was just about okay. The father-daughter angle should have been elevated a bit more. Her character has no clarity and the way the director narrates her track looks forced and has no proper depth. Nivetha Pethuraj and her way of approaching the love story is weak. Everything looks rushed and is just added to weave the story. The pain and drama in the love story is missing.Īlso, the conflict point is quite dull in the second half and Murali Sharma’s track which is connected to the main story does not create much impact. Nivetha Pethuraj and Vishwak’s love story has no proper emotion. Paagal has good moments in the first half and when you think, things will get exciting, the proceedings go for a toss. The chemistry between Nivetha and Vishwak looks good. Comedian Mahesh, Auto Ram Prasad do well in their scenes. Nivetha Pethuraj is decent in her role and gets some good scenes to perform. The comedy generated through the various proposals of Vishwak Sen and the track of Murali Sharma is good. The first half of the film is quite funny and has some good moments. Vishwak is quite energetic in his role and looks cool when he delivers the over-the-top proposal scenes. Vishwak Sen is the mainstay and carries the entire film on his shoulders.