Kali is a 2024 Telugu language suspense thriller film written and directed by Siva Sashu. The film has Prince Cecil, Naresh Agastya & Neha Krishnan playing the lead roles while Gowthan Raju, Gundu Sudarshan, Kedar Shankar, CVL Narasimha Rao, Manichandana, Madhu Mani, Thrinadh & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by J.B while the film is produced by T. Leela Gowtham Varma under Rudra Creations banner.
Story:
Shivaram (Prince Cecil) is a normal man who leads a life full of problems and struggles with his financial things and with his family too. One day he decides to commit suicide because of these pressures, and as he is about to end his life, a stranger (Naresh Agastya) comes to his house. Who is this stranger? What is his motive? Will he save Shivaram’s life? Needs to be seen in the film.
What about on-screen performances?
Naresh Agastya impresses big time as the stranger who comes into the life of Shivaram. His voice is a big asset to his performance and he maintains perfect body language to make his act a memorable one in his career. The way he composed himself in a role that demanded a straight face and straightforward dialogue delivery deserves appreciation.
Prince Cecil provides able support to Naresh Agastya in all their conversations and delivers a decent performance as Shivaram. He gets to showcase a wide range of emotions in this role and he is pretty satisfying in his part.
Neha Krishnan who plays Shivaram’s wife leaves a mark with her impactful performance in her limited scenes. But her role needed more elaboration and it could’ve been rounded off in a much better way.
Gowthan Raju, Gundu Sudarshan, Kedar Shankar, CVL Narasimha Rao, Manichandana, Madhu Mani, Thrinadh & all the rest are fine in their small parts.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Siva Sashu has nothing new to be told. It talks about how a man who has many societal pressures goes on to take suicide as his final destiny and gives a message on why one shouldn’t take this option in life. But the only interesting thing with the plot is how things are connected with Kali. Sadly, this only interesting thing is not properly presented or narrated in the film.
The screenplay is very boring and unengaging. The way the film takes off never sets the tone right. Also all the characters, except Naresh Agastya’s look uninteresting, and the same goes with the subplots. The way Kali comes into the narrative is a big setback coz of the way it is written and presented. Though the film is just 90 minutes long, there appears to be a bit of drag in the scenes.
Director Siva Sashu does a below-par job with his presentation and the narrative as well. Right from the the house he selected where the majority of the film revolves to the VFX & graphics in the film, the whole setup looks artificial and doesn’t allow us to get into the mood of the film. Had he taken a simple setup with clearer characterizations, things would have been a lot better.
The dialogues are good. A few conversations between Naresh Agastya & Prince are well written.
The music by J.B is ordinary. The background score is fine in a few scenes is fine while it is not up to the mark in a few others. Even the songs fail to register coz of the way they are placed in the film.
The camera work by Nishanth Katari & Ramana Jagarlamudi is good while the edit by Vijay Vardhan needed to be a lot more tighter.
The production values by Rudra Creations are fine.
What’s Hot?
* Naresh Agastya’s Performance & Voice
* Prince Cecil’s Performance
* Good Message In The Film
* Few Well Written Conversations
* Short Run Time
What’s Not?
* Poor Writing & Boring Scenes
* Unengaging Narrative
* Creatures Track & Voice Overs Didn’t Work
* Half Baked Sub Plots
* Unwanted Songs
* Weak VFX & Graphics
Verdict: Overall, Kali is an artificially presented and poorly narrated suspense thriller that needed better execution. Though the film has a meaningful message, the narrative or the scenes never keep us engaged with the proceedings. Could have been a direct OTT film with its short run time.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5