Sandhya - Review

Several love stories hit the Telugu screen so far, however, Sandhya directed by Gana Murali is little different from the routine. The hero, who moves like a vagabond turning a hard worker for the sake of his love and to fulfill her ambition. Though the storyline adopted is very good and per se has a message in it, the director could not present it in a proper and convincing way. Especially, the sudden change in the mindset of some characters failed to make a good appearance among the audiences.

Sandhya (Gayatri) is the daughter of a priest (Chandramohan) and hails from a middle-class Brahmin family. She is the third daughter and has two elder sister. The second sister dies after giving birth to a child, so her father plans to get Sandhya married to his second son-in-law in a second marriage to look after the child. However, Sandhya is fond of education. She dreams of becoming a doctor but her father is against giving her education. Sandhya's elder brother-in-law admits her in a hostel from where she goes to college every day. Ganesh is the son of a dhobi (washermen) couple (Babumohan and Kovai Sarala). He is a very good boy and never tease any girl and has a great respect towards him. Once he saves Sandhya's roommate from goons and Sandhya learns about him. Ganesh somehow loses his heart to Sandhya and the latter accepts it. When they were about to marry, Ganesh's parents doesn't accept it. But, Ganesh gets support from his sister (Preeti Nigam) and brother-in-law (Tarzan). However, after their marriage, Sandhya reveals her life ambition to become a doctor and appeals to Ganesh to help her to continue education. Ganesh turns an auto driver and some how manages all the fees and makes her a doctor. In the climax, it is Sandhya, who performs surgery and give a new life to her father. This makes the entire family reunite.

PLUS: The storyline chosen by the director is good. The performance by Baladitya, who played soft roles so far, in a mass role, is good. However, his personality failed to suit the character, which needs a rough look. Gayatri looked homely in traditional dress, while appeared fat in modern attires. Chandramohan and Sangeetha are at their usual best.

MINUS: The presentation of the film was poor and the narration is ridiculously slow and pathetic. The director failed to establish the change of mood in character in a bid to wrap up the film. Though the character played by Chandramohan has some meaning, many other characters — hero's brother-in-law, his sister, the villain, who tease the heroine in the beginning — are not properly established. Hero turning an auto driver and investing lakhs of rupees for the education of his wife is also not very convincing.

REMARKS: Though Baladitya played excellent characters as a child artist, he failed to choose good subjects after becoming a hero. He really needs a break. As his physic is not well-built, he should avoid mass characters and go for soft roles. Gayatri needs to shed lots of weight if she is really planning to survive in the film industry. Music by Ganesh Chakravarthy is also pathetic. The costume designer needs to be blamed for choosing unconvincing dresses to the heroine in some songs.

Cast: Baladitya, Gayatri, Chandramohan, Babu Mohan, MS Narayana, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Tarzan, Ananth, Chitti, Krishnadeep, Shankar, Potti Rambabu, Sangeetha, Kovai Sarala, Jhansi, Preeti Nigam, Priyanka, Jagadeeswari, Master P Karthik.

Credits: Dialogues – Sagar and Narendra, Music – Ganesh Chakravarthy, Camera –Ramkumar, Editing – Nandamuri Hari, Action – Nandu, Presents – Gadde Murali, Producer – P Bairaiah, Story, screenplay, designing and direction – Gana Murali.

Banner: Trimurthi Celluloid.