Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Prachi Desai, Pasupathy, Ravindra Vijay and Rohini
Director: Vikram K Kumar
Young actor Naga Chaitanya arrives on the OTT platform with ‘Dhootha’ and portrays a challenging ‘grey’ role. He impresses with his subtle performance and showcases varied shades as the show progresses. He is known for his lover boy roles on the big screen like ‘Ye Maaya Chesave’ and ‘Rarandoi Veduka Choodam’ but on digital space, he is bound to surprise the viewers with an unpredictable role. He looks fit and plays the role of a newspaper editor with ease; however, the murder mystery with supernatural elements has limited reach.
Director Vikram Kumar who failed to score hits on the big screen with duds like ‘Thankyou’ has chosen a contrived plot revolving deaths of corrupt journalists. Of course, he holds the suspense for some time as an upright police officer (Parvathy Thiruvothu) begins to investigate the death of a journalist and finds more clues. She even suspects the hero. However, her investigation loses its steam as the Youtuber who is a specialist in ghost stories enters the scene. The investigation has shades of the Malayalam thriller ‘Drishyam’ but no match to it in terms of planning of the protagonist who hides the truth from cops.
The story is about Naga Chaitanya who becomes editor of a newspaper. He gets a warning card from a fellow journalist who calls him a ‘backstabber’. Later, when he drives home with his pregnant wife (Priya Bhavani Shankar), daughter, and dog, his car halts near a dhaba. When Naga Chaitanya gets into dhaba for food, he finds a newspaper clipping stating that his dog could be killed in an accident.
Before, he could realize, a truck hits their car. While his wife and daughter escape their pet dog is found dead. Who is doing all this and what is the connection of ‘newspaper’ clippings to deaths forms the rest of the story.
Naga Chaitanya initially suspects his colleague but he finds him dying before his eyes. He begins to worry about the safety of his family following threats from mysterious clippings. He showcases a gamut of emotions like fear, anguish, greed, and selfishness elegantly. Prachi Desai is just ok for her role, while Priya has nothing much to do. Parvathy plays a strict cop and fits the bill, while Ravindra Jain as the ruthless cop also impresses.
Probably, the scion of Akkineni family wanted to explore digital arena since it is the new platform for entertainment for new-age viewers. He donned a multifaceted role ala Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor who played a dark role in ‘Farzi’. Nonetheless, Chaitanya set a precedent of sorts and we hope that other young Tollywood stars follow suit and raise the bar on Telugu content on OTT.
