Natyam movie review: The dance is good, but the film needed a better script

A movie that revolves round classical dance, produced by and starring a Kuchipudi dancer, makes an attempt to attract a parallel between a recent story and a fictional story relationship again to pre-Impartial India. A premise like that’s uncommon in modern Telugu cinema. Debut director Revanth Korukonda and dancer Sandhya Raju deserve appreciation for venturing right into a territory not many would dare to. Sandhya leads from the entrance, accompanied by a number of actor-dancers, on this movie that begins effectively however loses steam halfway.

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The story unfolds in a fictional dance village referred to as Natyam, which serves as a hat tip to the Kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh in addition to dance-centric colleges akin to Kalakshetra which can be mini universes unto themselves. Sithara (Sandhya Raju) grows up studying dance and is raring to show herself to be worthy of a rangapravesam within the presence of her guru (Adithya Menon). She believes she is the chosen one to relate the story of Kadambari, which her guru shared along with her when she was somewhat woman. However she realises that its very presentation would possibly problem superstitious beliefs and therefore invite hassle.

At first, the story seems easy and easy. The politics, drama and battle factors emerge progressively. The story of the dance village and its happenings are typically over-explained, but it surely’s attainable to miss this facet for some time due to the aesthetic temple village (filmed in Lepakshi and Hampi amongst different locations) and the skilful choreography of the opening ‘Nama Shivaya’ dance quantity. The synchronised strikes by Sitara and Hari Babu (Kamal Kamaraju because the guru’s son) to Shravan Bharadwaj’s music set the stage for a story centred on dance.

The outsider versus purist battle emerges with the entry of Rohit (Rohit Behal), an urban-bred western dancer who involves the village on the lookout for an idea that he might use for a world dance contest. Appreciable time is devoted to spotlight Sithara’s scorn for Rohit, coupled along with her naivete to not discover the true nature of Hari Babu. A couple of hooligans with political muscle are additionally thrown into this state of affairs, and stand out like sore thumbs in an aesthetic setting.

The plot has ample scope to discover the politics on this dance village, as an unlikely romance develops. However the writing is rarely satisfactory to discover all this effectively sufficient.

A dreamy Radha-Krishna dance sequence, with satisfactory visible results, modifications Sitara’s life as soon as and for all and the drama shifts to Hyderabad. Thereafter, the movie loses steam. The opening up of Sitara’s world outdoors her village occurs on anticipated strains, however the rising romance between her and Rohit is barely explored. The lacuna on this entrance seems all of the extra obtrusive as Sitara finds herself cornered throughout the closing dance ballet. Had the romance been written higher and the performances been higher in these parts, the high-pitched climax would have had the required affect.

Sandhya’s talent in Kuchipudi is an apparent asset to the movie; she additionally doesn’t let her facial expressions go overboard. Within the opening music, Kamal matches Sandhya’s dancing prowess like an expert, which is not any imply job. Mumbai-based dancer Rohit feels just like the wild card entrant into this movie. Whereas he scores along with his straightforward presence, he has a protracted approach to go as an actor. Adithya Menon and Subhalekha Sudhakar are barely satisfactory of their elements.

Bhanupriya will get a blink-and-miss display time. Contemplating that she was identified for her dance abilities, maybe there was a greater approach of presenting her? Dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar seems in a cameo.

Natyam is an attention-grabbing and courageous try, however required a greater script to make it the compelling drama that it might have been.