Nindha is a 2024 Telugu language crime drama film written and directed by Rajesh Jagannadham. The film has Varun Sandesh playing the lead roles while Tanikella Bharani, Annie, Bhadram, Surya Kumar, Chatrapathi Sekhar, Mime Madhu, Siddharth Gollapudi, Arun Dalai, Shreya Rani Reddy, Q Madhu, Sreeram Siddharth Krishna, Rajkumar Kurra, Durga Abhishek & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Santhu Omkar and the film is produced by Rajesh Jagannadham under The Fervent Indie Productions banner.
Story:
Balaraju (Chatrapathi Sekhar), an ordinary man living in the village of Kandrakota is wrongfully accused and put in jail by the court for the heinous crime of rape and murder of a young girl named Manju (Q Madhu). An anonymous guy (Varun Sandesh) kidnaps all the suspects in this case and investigates potential foul play before an imminent execution and exposes unsettling truths. What is the actual truth? Who did the crime? Needs to be found out in the theatres.
What about on-screen performances?
Varun Sandesh is always considered a good actor and he delivers a noteworthy performance in this film. We have seen him playing cute romantic roles full of energy and fun but this time he plays it settled and looks natural. This is surely a better film & performance of Varun when compared to his last few outings.
All the guys who played the suspects, namely Bhadram, Surya Kumar, Mime Madhu, Siddharth Gollapudi, Arun Dalai, Sreeram Siddharth Krishna, Rajkumar Kurra and Durga Abhishek support the plot ably with their decent performances.
Chatrapathi Sekhar is quite natural as Balaraju while Tanikella Bharani is fine as the hero’s father.
Annie who is a popular child artist is the surprise package of the film. She gives out a solid performance as Balaraju’s daughter.
Shreya Rani Reddy is okay as the girl who supports the hero but her character looks a bit underdeveloped.
Q Madhu is neat in her key role as the girl who gets murdered and the rest of the other supporting cast are fine.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Rajesh Jagannadham which is said to have been inspired by true events has an interesting core point. But the narrative pattern that he tried to follow & tell this point is very disappointing. Except for the climax twist, there is nothing engaging going on in the whole film which is supposed to thrill us with the kind of concept it took which involves that of kidnapping the suspects.
The screenplay too is very poorly written. There is a lot of lag with many scenes stretched unnecessarily beyond their limit. There is always a lengthy stretch after every 15-20 minutes which breaks the flow of the investigation. For example, the hero’s scenes with his dad, the love track at the end with a song, and the other song towards the climax are a few.
The whole investigation scenes in the room are narrated like UPSC students having a round table group discussion over a topic that looks very silly. The seriousness that is required is never maintained in these portions. Adding to that, all the people who are kidnapped happily help the hero to find out the truth, as if they are his close buddies which is logicless.
Director Rajesh Jagannadham does a fair job with his presentation but his narration is pretty underwhelming. He extracts decent performances from all his cast but the writing needed to be more sharp. Had he tried to wrap up the film in 90-100 minutes, this would surely have been a better film than what it is.
The dialogues by Sireesha Manikrishna are also not up to the mark. A few lines on the judicial process are good but the conversations that happen in the investigation room look very weak.
The cinematography by Ramiz Naveeth A is pretty decent. He captures the breezy village atmosphere and the dark investigation rooms in good light.
The songs by Santhu Omkar fail to leave a mark but his background score is impressive and lifts the film to a decent extent.
Anil Kumar’s edit needed to more sharper. Almost about 20 minutes in the film could’ve been easily chopped off.
The production values by The Fervent Indie Productions are adequate.
What’s Hot?
* Varun Sandesh’s Performance
* Impressive Climax Twist
* All Supporting Actor’s Performances
* Good Background Score
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Too Much Of Lag At Every Key Episode
* Logicless Proceedings & Weak Narrative
* Silly Investigation Scenes
* Few Poorly Written Dialogues/Conversations
* Unnecesary Songs In The Second Half
* Few Unwanted Scenes At The End
Verdict: Overall, Nindha is a below-par crime drama with too much of lag and middling execution. The film only works for the end climax twist and nothing else. The logicless proceedings and silly narration play spoilsport big time. Can give it a try once it is out on OTT.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2/5