U Turn movie review: Samantha's nuanced acting is treat to watch in gripping thriller

Cast: Samantha Akkineni, Adhi Pinisetty, Bhumika Chawla, Rahul Ravindhran

Director: Pawan Kumar

U Turn is a remake of Kannada blockbuster thriller by the same name and directed by Pawan Kumar. Staying true to his original version and with a better budget, Pawan, who has reworked on his screenplay and with minor changes, is able to recreate the same magic.

Rachana (Samantha Akkineni) is an intern reporter in a newspaper and in order to impress higher-ups, she decides to write an article about people who violate traffic rules in the city. She chooses the Velachery flyover, where she notices several commuters manually de-arrange the dividers to take a U-Turn and cut short their journey. Everyday she collects the details of the people who take U-Turn there.

However, even before she could get a lead to her story, Rachana is picked up by the police in the middle of the night and accused of murdering a person whom she was supposed to interview for her story. Though there are no takers to hear her side, it is an intelligent officer Pradeep Nayak (Aadhi Pinisetty) who believes her. He gets himself involved in the case and starts investigating with the help of Rachana. It leads to a strange thing that all those who had taken illegal U-Turns at the flyover in the past six months have died under mysterious circumstances and police have closed the case as suicides.

Samantha, who looks good in her new makeover with a short hairdo, has given an effortless performance. She gets into the skin of the character and is totally convincing. Her nuanced acting is a treat to watch. Aadhi has been aptly cast and is equally impressive. He has come up with a natural performance and scores in the given scenes. Rahul Ravindhran as the colleague of Samantha in a brief role is adequate. Bhumika as Maya delivers what is expected out of her and adds to the mystery quotient.

The subtle romance between Sam and Rahul is quite enjoyable. While the first half moves at a rapid speed with thrills and suspense factor maintained intact, post interval, the film drags a bit. Also, the supernatural element is revealed a bit too early which reduces the real impact. Yet another problem is that the film has a Telugu flavour, especially in dialogues and also the dubbing sometimes goes off-sync.

Thankfully, there are no song routines or romantic scenes and Pawan has stuck to his core theme.

Overall, U Turn, which addresses an important issue, is a well-made gripping thriller worth your time and money.