Telugammai Review

After a series of good v/s bad women oriented films such as Arundhati, Panchakshari and Mangala, Saloni starring 'Telugu Ammayi', a cute titled film promised to offer something different. But, did it eventually is what we are going to find out?

'Telugu Ammayi' is the story of a lone girl Sundari and four friends: Shiva, Chinna, Munna and Shankar. You may call it fate or destiny, but, these four friends meet Sundari while travelling in train on their way to Saamarlakota from Hyderabad. Kalidasu, a sociopath also travels in the same train, who apparently afterwards attempts to molest Sundari. Irked by the situation, four friends beat up Kalidasu and kill him eventually. When Police charge the four friends with murder, Sundari comes forward claiming that she killed Kalidasu. Who actually killed Kalidasu? And why would Sundari turn herself in for the four friends' forms the rest of the story.

Saloni was enveloped with expectations after her superb performance in 'Maryada Ramanna'. This time around too she delivers a neat, satisfying performance that will definitely be remembered for a while if not till eternity. However, the screw-up is in the plot that fails to appeal as much as the title. I still don't understand why was this film called 'Telugu Ammayi'? Is it because there was a song around Saloni in 'Maryada Ramanna' called 'Telugu Ammayi' or for any other reason? Whatever the reason might be, the title definitely didn't seem appropriate with regards to the plot. Also, the plot seemed to have been borrowed from Srinu Vytla's 'Venky', with a little twist in Saloni's story. MS Narayana's son Vikram (Koduku fame) appears in a brief role. He shows off decent comic timing and is acceptable. The rest of the cast fell flat like a deck of cards.

Not only did the film fail to entertain the audience, it had them in tears due to its distressing storyline, thus the whole act withers away. The direction suffered badly. Albeit the title is crowd pulling, but the director fails in scoring similar image with the plot of the movie. Cinematography also suffered as much as the direction. And so did music, which in fact was pathetic with songs that neither have life nor energy in them.