Movie Review : Prathi Roju Pandage
Sai Dharam Tej has finally took a break from commercial potboilers and looking to do films that appeal to families and youngsters. Even Maruthi who is known for making quirky comedies has come out of his comfort zone for Prathi Roju Pandage.
What’s It About?
Raghuramayya (Satya Raj) is suffering with lung cancer and will not live for many days. His children who are busy with their lives don’t have time to come to take care of him. His grandson Sai (Sai Tej) comes and makes a bucket list for his grandfather and fulfills those wishes. He even arranges his marriage to make his grandfather’s wish come true.
Performances:
Sai Dharam Tej who has dropped Dharam from his name is good as a doting and caring grandson. He has effortlessly slipped into the shoes of a regular Manavadu that doesn’t does usual Telugu Cinema hero stuff. He needs to work on his acting in emotional scenes, though. Rashi Khanna gets a role that can be easily related to the TikTok savvy youth. She is good as Angel Aarna. The film is all about Satya Raj and the actor should be thankful to Maruthi for offering this role to him ahead of many other options. Satya Raj’s chemistry with Sai Tej is the best thing about this film. Rao Ramesh is impressive with his sarcastic portrayal of a materialistic son. Rest of the star cast chipped in whenever required.
Technical Aspects:
Maruthi has shown maturity as a filmmaker with Prathi Roju Pandage. The story is familiar, but Maruthi deals it in his style with right mix of emotions and fun. He has finally come out of the loop of creating characters with some defects. He has done well in dealing with the emotional core of the film without getting too preachy and generic. However, usage of humor has gone overboard at times. Even the characters of Satya Raj’s children except Rao appear cartoonish.
Music by Thaman is good. A couple of songs will stay with you for sure. Background score also is impressive. Cinematography is eye pleasing with lush green locales. Editing is fine. Dialouges are good in key scenes. Production values are just okay.
Highlights:
Rao Ramesh Characterization and performance
Comedy in first half
Dialogues in climax
Drawbacks:
Scenes between father and children in second half
Inconsistent middle portions
Predictable narration
Analysis:
Films passing message to children to take care of their ageing parents have come in numbers. Prathi Roju Pandage has all the clichés of the formula. Irresponsible children, lonely father and a caring grandson. Maruthi makes it an entertaining film at least until the fist half with his terrific grip over subtle humor. The way he shows the grown up children’s materialistic behavior with their father at the beginning is both humorous and also hard-hitting.
Maruthi is good at penning characters and he does a fantastic job in writing Rao Ramesh and Rashi Khanna characters that provide ample humor in the first half. Even the best songs of the album come in the first half making it a breezy entertainer despite its emotion ridden plot. First half has a few hiccups here and there but it entertains on a whole.
Maruthi couldn’t maintain the humorous tone in the second half and he fills it with some ridiculous scenes to make the children of Satya Raj look bad. Scenes like building a grave for dying father and making arrangements for Sava Yatra are not funny and downright cringe worthy. Murali Sharma’s thread makes Rao Ramesh even bad and such scenes make it look like an emotionally overblown television serial. Maruthi is a good writer and makes up for the flaws with well written climatic sequences. All in all, PRP is a mixed bag with some genuinely funny moments and some silly scenes in second half that spoil the fun.
Verdict: Mixed Bag!
