‘Perfume’ review: An interesting investigative crime drama

Cast: Che Nag, Prachi Thaker

Director: Jaligapu Durga Swamy

Producer: Ramadevi Lavoori, Rajeev Kumar Bochu

Music: HemachandraVedala

Rating: 3/5

“Perfume” is the latest film this weekend at the Tollywood box office. The film created huge buzz with it’s promotional contentand hits the theatres. Let’s see how it fares at box-office.

Story

Nature photographer Vyas (Che Nag), who leads his life on his own terms, naturally has the instinct of detecting odors. But one specially made aromatic perfume makes his senses more active. Thus, he gets prone to a new psychological disorder which eventually gives him orgasm every time he smells the odor. The disorder makes him commit a crime when he steps out of his house. Before he turns into a psycho killer, the police should catch Vyas. Meanwhile, classical dancer Leela (Prachi Thaker), who wants to study the criminal's psychology enters into his life. What happens next is the main crux of the film.

Performances

Che Nag is seen in the titular role, as the person with the innate ability to detect various scents in nature. His character has a very interesting arc in the film, with a lot of scope to perform. While Che Nag does his best, in the end, his performance ends up feeling very one note, with no subtleties or layers to his performance. The actor has rendered a convincing performance as a psychologically sick man who battles mental disorder.

Abhinaya is seen in the role of a powerful police officer, who is investigating the serial murders taking place in the city. She is seen in a role that she has never been seen before, in Telugu cinema, and she pulls off her character quite well. It is interesting to see her in such a role as well. She proves that she can pull off any kind of character with her performance in this film.Prachi Thaker's performance as criminal psychology student Leela is praiseworthy. After appearing in suspense thriller 'RajugariKodipulao', Thaker fetched good role in “Perfume.”

Technicalities

The director of the film has come up with a concept that has not been explored in Telugu cinema before. He had all the raw materials to make the film very engaging, and with a better script and narration, the film would have been so much better. Considering the elements it had, it is sad to see that the film doesn’t manage to make much of an impact in the end.

Ajay Arasada, who composed the background score and tunes to the film, has done a terrific job. The bgm and the songs 'EviEviEkkatledu', IlantiPremaEshwarude and 'Kaalipothunna' explaining the mental and emotional pain of the protagonist were good. The camera work at large is okayish, however, lighting and colour gradient in the visuals are not so rich.