Anando Brahma Review & Rating : A horror-comedy which is neither

Taapsee, who has been a glam doll in Telugu cinema, wowed Hindi and pan-India audience with her terrific performances in films like ‘Pink’, ‘Baby’ and ‘Naam Shabana’. With her making a comeback of sorts in Telugu with ‘Anando Brahma’, there are expectations galore. However, unlike her Hindi films, she failed to make a mark.

The actress has limited screen time and has nothing to do other than looking terrified or scare others. The actress did well within the character limitations, but it failed to carry the movie to the shore.

It is difficult to sustain the curiosity of the audience, when the suspense is revealed in the opening act. Only legendary director Alfred Hitchcock managed to pull off such feat in many of his films. Sadly, debutant director Mahi V Raghav is no Hitchcock and after the big reveal 15 minutes into the film, there is nothing to look forward. The director also hams up the first half, with too many establishing shots, making the movie a tedious watch.

The movie is touted to be a horror-comedy and it is neither. The scenes that are supposed to scare you are run-of-the-mill and lack any bite. Ghosts failing to scare humans, is a promising premise and has lot of scope for humour, but Mahi V Raghav fails to churn out a good story. Barring a hilarious track in the second half, the writing is mostly insipid.

Srinivas Reddy plays ‘good samaritan’ to the T. His character is shown to have a condition, where he has to laugh when he is terrified and cry when he is happy, but that is not exploited well. ‘Vennela’ Kishore is under-utilised and Tagubothu Ramesh is his usual self. Shakalaka Shankar, who is in terrific form, shows his comic chops in the hilarious track, where he imitates evangelist KA Paul.

In all the movie had a lot of potential but the director failed to tap any of it. Barring the opening bang and a hilarious track in the second half, the movie has nothing more to offer. 123 minutes of running time turns out to be ordeal.

Film Name : Anando Brahma

Cast : Tapsee, Srinivas Reddy, Vennela Kishore and others
Direction : Mahi. V Raghav
Genre : Horror/Comedy
Likes : Opening bang and Shakalaka Shankar track
Dislikes : Dreary screenplay

By Aditya Parankusam