Neeraja Kona's directorial debut, Telusu Kada, is a ballsy attempt to dissect the messy, weird realities of our modern love lives. Starring Siddhu Jonnalagadda, Raashii Khanna, and Srinidhi Shetty, the film sets out to explore a complicated love triangle that throws up some very tricky questions about commitment, emotional confusion - and the super tricky issue of surrogacy. As you'd expect from a film with such ambitions, it's full of style and has some really compelling performances, but its narrative has a bit of an identity crisis, and that leaves it feeling somewhat emotionally disconnected at times.
The story centres around Varun (Siddhu Jonnalagadda), a bloke with a clear idea of the kind of family life he wants - and then, before he knows it, his life gets turned upside down when his former love, Raaga (Srinidhi Shetty), shows up again, just when things are starting to get really complicated with his new wife, Anjali (Raashii Khanna).
Cinephiles have been raving about the film's production values - and that's no surprise. Neeraja Kona, who has a background in styling, has created a visually rich and meticulously crafted film, and Gnana Shekar VS's cinematography is a real standout - capturing the urban settings and intimate moments with a really sharp eye. Meanwhile, Thaman S's music score is all over the place in the best possible way, perfectly capturing the emotional undercurrents of the drama.
The real strength of the film though is the performances from its lead actors. Siddhu Jonnalagadda has been getting a lot of praise for his portrayal of Varun, and for good reason - he really does shed his previous 'DJ Tillu' image to reveal a more complex and interesting character - one who can be charming, profound - but also a bit problematic and emotionally lost, at times.
Raashii Khanna has a lovely warmth and emotional intelligence as Anjali - and she really brings a lot of depth to the character, especially in her scenes with Siddhu. Srinidhi Shetty is also really good, although there's a bit of a problem with her character's writing - she comes across as a bit underdeveloped at times. Still, even with that, she brings a lot of fire and nuance to the film, and keeps the central conflict alive. And Harsha Chemudu does a fine job of adding some welcome comedic relief without taking away from the tension.
The general consensus among reviewers is that the film starts off with a lot of promise - with some cracking good dialogue and a pace that's as effortless as it is engaging in the first half. But after the interval, it all starts to go a bit off the rails. The second half - which is meant to be the emotional core of the film - starts to drag because of some lengthy explanatory sections and a reliance on plot conveniences rather than any real character development.
The trouble is that the complexity of Varun's character, which was initially really intriguing, starts to get confusing in the end, and you end up wondering what he's really trying to achieve. And, to be honest, the film's resolution has been a bit of a letdown for a lot of people, because it plays it a lot safer than it should - opting for a more familiar, less interesting conclusion.
Telusu Kada is probably going to appeal most to an urban audience who are interested in seeing Telugu cinema take on the complexities and weirdness of modern relationships. And it's definitely a film that's worth checking out, visually and from a performance standpoint. It's ambitious, and you can't help but applaud that. But, at the same time, its narrative flaws - the lack of emotional clarity and that uneven pacing in the second half - stop it from being a truly great romantic drama.