Movie: Sridevi Soda Center
Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: 70mm Entertainments
Cast: Sudheer Babu, Anandhi, Pavel Navageethan, Naresh, Sathyam Rajesh, and others
Cinematography: Shamdat Sainudeen
Music: Mani Sharma
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Producers: Vijay Chilla, Sasi Devireddy
Written and direction: Karuna Kumar
Release Date: August 27, 2021
Sudheer Babu teaming up with ‘Palasa’ fame director Karuna Kumar has created curiosity. The film’s trailer and promotion by Prabhas have helped people talking about it.
Let’s find out whether it lives up to the hype or not.
Story:
Soori Babu (Sudheer Babu) is a lighting technician who arranges and operates lighting for the celebrations in their village. He is popular in his area in his profession. Love blossoms between Sridevi (Anandhi) and Soori.
Expectedly, their love faces obstacles as both belong to different communities. Sridevi’s father feels he would lose his honor (paruvu) if he marries her off to Soori, who is from lower-caste.
Also, Kasi (Pavel Navageethan), a local rich guy, adds more drama to their struggles. Will Soori and Sridevi reunite or get married?
Artistes’ Performances:
Playing a rustic role with such conviction is a first for Sudheer Babu. He has done full justice, and we get to see his acting abilities. Sudheer Babu is the main highlight.
Anandhi has proven her acting skills in many films in Tamil. She has added her experience to the role of Sridevi, who is madly in love with a lower-caste boy.
Senior actor VK Naresh steals the show again. Newcomer Pavel Navageethan as the main villain is miscast. He lacks the intense ‘villain’ look required for such a role.
Technical Excellence:
Mani Sharma’s music is a mixed bag. He worked well with the back ground score but didn't score with the songs. Not even a single song is catchy or haunting.
Shamdat’s cinematography is grand. He is the same cinematographer of ‘Uppena’ and he adds his rich visual flavor. Sreekara Prasad’s editing is effective. Dialogues are good (especially in the final 15 min part).
Highlights:
Sudheer Babu
Climax part
Dialogues
Drawback:
Predictable story
Bland First half
Slow-paced narration
Outdated sequences in romance
Analysis
The story of “Sridevi Soda Center” is clichéd to the most part as we have seen love stories based on the caste issue many times.
Early this year, we had seen “Uppena” with the same theme. Sai Pallavi’s Tamil anthology story also ran almost similarly.
Director Karuna Kumar, who made his debut with ‘Palasa 1978’, a film with a strong Dalit theme, has brought nothing new to the board. except for the penultimate portions. He has a ‘twist’ in his armour of screenplay.
He has completely relied on this single aspect of the movie. The entire first half tests our patience as the film runs on a serious tone at a slow pace.
To hold the interest of the Telugu audience for close to two and half hours with such a predictable story, the director needs a gripping screenplay and catchy songs (as the success of “Uppena” proved). “Sridevi Soda Center” runs short of these two qualities.
The romantic track between Sudheer Babu and Anandhi also lacks freshness. A hero running after the village belle and getting rejected initially and impressing her eventually is a beaten-to-death track. Still, director Karun Kumar ran on these episodes for nearly 45 minutes in the first half. Of course, there is a mandatory ‘love-making scene’.
Had the love track been narrated freshly, the gripping climax portions would have worked a terrific way.
As we leave the theater, we can only talk about the shocking climax sequence (these scenes are handled superbly, though), not any other aspects of it.
Moreover, the film’s main villain, a newcomer, looks too weak for such a story. The film also shifts its focus from the villain Kasi to another important character. The theme of honor-killing is packaged differently, but the tonal shift seems abrupt.
In a nutshell, “Sridevi Soda Center” is a clichéd story with a shocking climax part. Despite having gripping final sequences, the film is too serious and damn slow.
Bottom-line: No Soda, Only Water