Phanindra Narsetti earned a good following among moviegoers with his short films a few years ago. He later debuted as a feature film director with ‘Manu’ in 2018 but it did not do well. After seven years, he made his second feature film, 8 Vasantalu and released it in theatres today. The most sought-after production house, Mythri Movie Makers, produced the film. Mad fame, Ananthika Sanilkumar played the lead role and Hesham Abdul Wahab composed the music for the film. Did the director, Phanindra Narsetti deliver his first successful film as a feature film director? Did Mythri Movie Makers score another hit film? How did Ananthika Sanilkumar perform in the film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Shuddhi Ayodhya(Ananthika Sanilkumar), a self-assured independent woman and an NRI boy who visits Ooty from the USA along with his parents, fall in love with each other and breaks up eventually due to unforeseen circumstances. Shuddhi then moves on in her life and falls in love again with Sanjay, a Telugu poet and author. Did Shuddhi’s relationship with Sanjay lead to a happy ending? What is the backstory of Sanjay? How did Sanjay’s backstory connect to Shuddhi? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Ananthika Sanilkumar as Shuddhi Ayodhya delivered a superb performance. Her looks, expressive eyes and acting skills worked so well in the film. She seems to be a very good choice for author-backed roles and there is a good chance for us to see her in many films in the coming days. Hanu Reddy in the role of a charming youngster performed very well. He has an effortless ease in showcasing varied emotions and it was evident on the screen.

Ravitheja Duggirala in the role of Sanjay is a miscast. Sanjay’s character in the film needs a very good actor but unfortunately, his inexperience in acting was evident on the screen. Also, the director would have opted for known actors for the key supporting roles, especially for the lead actress’s mother character. The idea of casting relatively unknown actors for crucial supporting characters did not work.

Technicalities:

Hesham Abdul Wahab’s songs are good and his soulful background score breathed life into many sequences. His work during the Kashmir episode in the first half deserves a special mention. Vishwanath Reddy’s cinematography is one of the key positives of the film. His frames capturing the beauty of Ooty, Kashmir and Varanasi looked so beautiful on screen.

Editing by Shashank Mali is strictly ok. He should have done a better job, especially in the second half. Production values by Mythri Movie Makers is a mixed bag. While the production values were good in the first half, the setup in the second half felt like watching a TV serial.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Ananthika & Hanu Reddy’s Performances

2.⁠ ⁠Music

3.⁠ ⁠Cinematography

4.⁠ ⁠A Few Meaningful Dialogues

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Ravi Duggirala’s Performance

2.⁠ ⁠Second Half

3.⁠ ⁠Overtly Preachy Tone

4.⁠ ⁠Making Standards In The Second Half

5.⁠ ⁠Supporting Actors Performances

6.⁠ ⁠Excessive Usage of Dramatic Dialogues

Analysis:

The chemistry between the lead pair and their performances, good music and visuals, heart-touching and yet relatable moments, and dialogues are the most important factors for a romantic drama film to create an impact on the audience. Especially, in an era where the meaning of a ‘relationship’ is evolving with each passing day, a romantic drama film director needs to come up with relatable characters and emotions. The ability to convey the point in the most relatable way to the audience is the key for the director to succeed. 8 Vasantalu struggled with the lack of relatability and bad performances in the second half. Also, the casting of one of the three main leads in the film misfired big time.

Although the film starts on a slow note, the pace of the film picks up from the sequence at the bus stop between Ananthika & Hanu Reddy. The chemistry between Ananthika & Hanu Reddy, their acting, music and visuals, throughout the Kasmir episode in the first half worked in the favour of the film. A few meaningful dialogues like ‘Bhoomi paiki vundadaniki vachham…Vundi povadaniki kadu’, ‘Maintaining dignity during the breakup’, ‘Andari thalarathalu paina vunna vadu raasthadu antaru… Kani, India lo pillala thalarathalu matram valla thallithandrulu rastharu’, etc., worked out well in the first half.

The major issue with 8 Vasntalu is the lack of consistency in the character arc of the lead actress and her mother character. The lead actress character was shown as a self-assured, most sorted & fiercely independent woman in the first half. During the breakup sequence, she even lectures her first boyfriend to stand up for himself and speak his heart out. And yet in the second half when she was put in a similar situation, she did not stand up for herself and gave up easily on her second love. The mother character is shown as a very supportive mother who supports her daughter and her choices unconstitutionally in the first half. And yet in the second half, she behaves like a very typical Indian mother who wants her daughter to be married to a guy from a well-off family. This lack of consistency in the two key characters reveals the confused state of mind of the writer and director.

Another issue with the film is the casting. The lead pair(Shuddhi Ayodhya & her first boyfriend) looked good together and acted well in the first half but there was no chemistry whatsoever between the lead pair(Shuddhi Ayodhya & her second boyfriend) in the second half. It is not a good thing to be very critical of a new actor but to say the decision to cast Ravitheja Duggirala as the second male lead actor misfired is an understatement. His lack of experience in acting, limited expressions and dialogue delivery worked against the film. On top of it, the drama written around his character is very melodramatic. Also, the actress who did Shuddhi Ayodhya’s mother character is a miscast as well. Both these two actors along with below-par production values gave the film a TV serial-like feel in the second half.

A few dialogues in the film are very good but in an attempt to give the film a poetic feel, the writer in Phanindra Narsetti went overboard most of the time. For example, to convey how she and her mother felt after losing her father, a heavy dialogue like ‘Baddalaina oka Hiroshima laga’ was used. The dialogues like the aforementioned one made the audience not relate to the characters. Many times during the film, the dialogues written felt as if we are attending a ‘personality development’ class.

Overall, 8 Vasantalu had a decent half first but the miscasting, inconsistency in writing in two important characters arc and melodrama in the second half made the film a underwhelming watch. The director, Phanindra Narsetti, may have to come up with another film to score his first hit as a feature film director.

Bottomline: 8 Vasantalu – Partly Shines

Rating – 2.25/5

Related