Hidimbha Review: Bloated Thriller

‘Hidimbha’ is going to arrive at the cinemas this Thursday. The film’s review is presented below.

Plot:

Sixteen girls go missing in Hyderabad in present day (read 2023). A special officer named Aadya (Nandita Swetha) is called from Kerala to help Inspector Abhay (Ashwin Babu) investigate the case. Abhay believes that a local gangster who runs a mafia is behind the serial kidnappings. But Aadya discovers a pattern to the kidnappings – only women wearing red-colour dresses have gone missing. Further investigation leads to incidents that took place in the late 1990s and a father-son duo.

Performances:

Ashwin Babu is relegated to the background for a good part of the film. His character looks meaningless till the completion of the flashbacks in the second half. He is muscular and acts badly. Nandita Swetha is average. She doesn’t give the sort of intense emotions that the film needed. In this, she is in union with her male co-star.

Raghu Kunche and Sanjay Swarup are seen as cops, while Shubaleka Sudakar plays Chief Minister. Srinivasa Reddy is wasted.

Technical Departments:

B Rajasekhar (cinematographer) and Vikas Badisa (music director) don’t give anything worth the genre. A thriller with twists and dark themes is supposed to have excellent photography and score. This film lacks both.

The editing by MR Varma is a disaster when it comes to dealing with the flashback in the second half. Sharmila Yalisetty’s art direction is generic. Almost no action sequence makes the grade. The action choreography has been done by Real Sathish, Jashuva, and Aneel Kanneganti.

Plus Points:

• Storyline.
• The twist in the second half.

Minus Points:

• Inadequate use of the cannibalism element.
• Lack of superior technical elements.
• Illogical investigation scenes in the first half.
• Never-ending flashback involving Shijju.

Analysis:

Writer-director Aneel Kanneganti squanders away the potential of a rock-solid storyline. The treatment is shoddy. The investigation scenes are totally devoid of logic.

The last 25 minutes would have been enough to salvage the film had the performances been impressive. But this film has no core strengths. The first half is absolutely cliched and haphazard. A loud score and artificial performances drag down the viewer’s experience. Weak action scenes only make matters worse.

Verdict:

‘Hidimbha’ is a bloated thriller with very few plus points. The demerits weight down the story thoroughly. Avoid it!

Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5