Ninu Veedani Needanu Nenele movie review: ‘A timepass flick’
Director: Caarthick Raju
Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Anya Singh, Murali Sharma, Posani, Vennela Kishore and others
Young actor Sundeep Kishan has turned producer with his latest film Ninu Veedani Needanu Nenele. Directed by Caarthik Raju, the film features Anya Singh in the female lead role.
The film’s central characters Arjun (Sundeep Kishan) and her college sweetheart Madhavi (Anya Singh) marry each other against their parents’ wishes. All is warm and sunny until one day, during a road trip, they meet with an accident near a cemetery. They return home safely, however, they’re taken aback when they notice not their own but someone else’s reflection when they look in the mirror. These reflections happen to be of Rishi (Vennela Kishore) and Diya. Baffled by this horrific anomaly, they decide to consult a psychiatrist (Murali Sharma), with whom they discuss the incident.
The psychiatrist with some assistance from a police officer (Posani) commences her research to decipher the mystery. How Rishi and Diya come into the picture — the mystery behind the reflections — is essentially what the film is about. Director Raju has narrated the story through the lens of the psychiatrist, who discusses this unusual case with his students.
Albeit horrifying, the film cannot particularly be classified as horror so much as it fits the bill to be classified as a mystery.
The plot gets interesting in the first half after Arjun and Madhavi see not their own but Rishi and Diya’s reflections in the mirror. As the narration progresses, it becomes evident that the director is trying to convey something beyond the spectrum of your regular horror movie. The film’s momentum continues to snowball until the interval, however, after the mystery is revealed, it dulls down. Consequently, the second half seems like no more than a forced extension to the story — no mystery, no surprises, only some comedy and sentimental fillers. Yet the concept is without a doubt impressively novel, and the scene just before the interval certainly stands out.
Performance wise, Sun-deep Kishan has delivered impeccably in the horror and emotional scenes. Anya Singh, too, just done justice to her role in the film, which happens to be her Telugu debut. Murali Sharma has done a neat job as the psychiatrist in the plot. Further, both Posani Krishna Murali as a police officer who is afraid of ghosts and Vennela Kishore who, in fact, has played a key role in the film have done a decent job — especially with making the audience laugh.
The others, including Purnima Bhagyaraj and Pragathi, have all done well in their respective supporting roles.
The film’s most prized asset, however, is the background score by S.S. Thaman. Coupled with its commendable cinematography, Thaman’s score certainly elevates the film’s mood.
In a nutshell, albeit gripping in the first half, the film is overall no more than a “timepass” flick.
The second half could certainly have used some suspense or drama, but we cannot discount director Raju’s courage for taking the plunge and attempting something that had never been attempted before this.
