Anger Tales is a Telugu Anthology film that is streaming on Disney + Hotstar. The anthology consists of 4 different stories. It is directed by Prabhala Tilak and written by Karthikeya Karedla & Prabhala Tilak. The film has Venkatesh Maha, Suhas, Ravindra Vijay, Bindu Madhavi, Phani Acharya, Sudha, Tharun Bhascker & Madonna Sebastian playing the lead roles in the 4 episodes. The music is composed by Smaran Sai and the film is produced by Sridhar Reddy & Suhas.
Story:
The film showcases 4 different stories that revolve around how anger as an emotion can manipulate people and end up affecting their lives. There are 4 episodes in the movie, each of which deals with a different set of characters dealing with different scenarios. The stories are –
1. Benefit Show – This talks about how a hot-headed star hero fan named Ranga organizes a fans benefit show before the film’s release and how he faces problems from another group of bullies when the show doesn’t start on time.
2. Food Festival – This part narrates the story of Pooja who is a pure non-vegetarian and goes into a family of vegetarians after her marriage. One day she falls ill and is advised to eat non-veg for health reasons but this does not go well with her husband’s family. What tension this causes in the family forms the rest of the story.
3. An Afternoon Nap – Radha is a middle-class housewife living with her husband in a rented house. But she is constantly disturbed by her landlord & her relatives while she is sleeping in the noon. What does Radha do to stop them and is she successful forms the rest of the story.
4. Helmet Head – This story is about Giri who suffers from low self-esteem due to his bald head and is constantly mocked by people around him. One day, even his family behaves the same way. What situations this leads to is the remaining story.
On-screen performances:
The casting of the film, which consists of Bindu Madhavi, Phani Acharya, Madonna Sebastian, and Venkatesh Maha in the lead roles, is on point. However, the audience can’t help but feel that their performances are underwhelming. It looks like there was a lot of scope for them to have given a better performance, but probably due to the script or other reasons, the performances fall a little flat.
Suhas makes a very good impression in his supporting role, and as always, his performance is spectacular.
Sudha, Tharun Bhascker & Ravindra Vijay do their job ably in their respective supporting roles.
Off-screen talents
Karthikeya Karedla and Prabhala Tilak have come up with interesting storylines for sure. All the four tales are simple yet very well-conceived and relatable. All four have a very good scope, which seems to have been lost terribly during translation to the big screen.
One of the major drawbacks of this movie is the pacing of the screenplay. It is too slow in almost every story, and some actors feel like they’ve been very much underutilized. Not a single story seems to have been made to create a very high impact on the audience.
Another major drawback is that the film is an anthology, a format that has never worked for the Telugu audience. The audience is disconnected from one story to the other and this creates a huge hindrance for the audience to really connect with or appreciate the film.
The camera work is cranked by four distinct cinematographers—Amardeep, Venkat R Shakamuri, AJ Aaron, and Vinod K Bangari. All 4 of them do a good job in their respective stories.
The editing by Kodati Pavan Kalyan could have been so much better. The production values are okay. The music, provided by Smaran Sai, is one of the better aspects of the film. While it may not be memorable, it still feels better than the rest of the film.
Plus Points:
- Cinematography & Music
Minus Points:
- Pacing
- Poor screenplay
- Improper conclusion to any story
- Lack of emotional connect
Verdict: Anger Tales is a sorely missed opportunity and once again proves that anthologies are not for the Telugu market. The film is very much skippable, and doesn’t offer any entertainment value.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.5/5