Papam Prathap is a 2026 Telugu-language romantic comedy drama written and directed by S.P. Durga Naresh. The film has Thiruveer & Payal Radhakrishna playing the lead roles while Ajay Ghosh, Raasi, Devi Prasad, Raghu Babu, Goparaju Ramana, Prasad Behara, Ravi Anthony, Ananth Babu, Mahaboob Basha, Srinivas Avasarala, Rupa Lakshmi & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by K.M. Radha Krishna & Suresh Bobbili. The film is produced by Gaddam Rakesh Reddy & Rudradev Madhi Reddy under ETV Win & Krishi Entertainments banners.
Story:
Prathap (Tiruveer) has been in love with Bujjamma (Payal Radhakrishna) since childhood and finally marries her. But with just 3 days after their wedding, issues arise between them, and Bujjamma leaves for her parents’ home, saying Pratap has a problem—but she doesn’t reveal what it is.
She challenges him to understand and fix it on his own before coming back. What exactly is Prathap’s problem? The story follows Prathap’s journey to figure out his issue and make his marriage work.
What about on-screen performances?
Thiruveer does a pretty ordinary job with his performance. There is a monotony with his acting and the kind of characters he is choosing of late, as most of them have been village-oriented roles.
Payal Radhakrishna shines as Bujjamma and fits neatly into the role of a village belle. She looks glamorous and also does well in all the emotional portions in the film.
Ajay Ghosh impresses as the hero’s father with his aggressive dialogue-driven dialogues, and his funny antics work well in the initial portions.
Veteran actress Raasi appears in a supporting role as the hero’s mother and delivers a good performance, especially in the climax. But her part needed more relevance to the core conflict.
There are a few supporting characters who have very little relevance to the plot and go a bit overboard with their comedy. Goparaju Ramana, Mahaboob Basha, Ravi Anthony & Raghu Babu are a few of them, and their comedy scenes are pretty weak.
Devi Prasad, Prasad Behara, Ananth Babu, Rupa Lakshmi, Srinivas Avasarala, & all others are fine in limited parts.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by S.P. Durga Naresh is not up to the mark. Though the central conflict of the film had decent potential, the way it is told and brought into the narrative is neither engaging nor entertaining. Also, the way it is solved is very bland and ineffective.
The screenplay is very poorly written, and looks dragged for no good reason. Firstly, the love track is weakly established. Secondly, the way the core problem is linked to the hero’s love isn’t fully convincing. As a result, there is absolutely zero emotional connect with the characters. Lastly, the film is filled with numerous unwanted subplots that have no connection to the main story. These subtracks feel outdated and, at times, become quite irritating, further slowing down the already weak narrative.
The writers make a big mistake by not revealing Prathap’s issue at the right moment and keep dragging the narrative till the interval with various subplots that are not connected to the main story, and comedy that mostly falls flat. After the issue is introduced at the interval, the climax becomes pretty evident, and predictability kicks in. But in the second half too, the film is stretched out with unnecessary subplots, over-the-top comedy, and a resolution process that never works.
Also, there are many logical loopholes in the film. For example, the heroine taking such a personal issue directly to the village elders, instead of discussing it with family or with the husband, looks forced, and when the mother knows that the hero has a problem, why wasn’t it discussed before the marriage? And why was there not an attempt to solve this issue from his childhood? Those points are never discussed.
Director S.P. Durga Naresh does an underwhelming job with his whole presentation, and his narrative is out of place. There is a lot of lag in his narrative, and his writing is a big disappointment. The film surely needed better treatment and better scenes for the core conflict to work.
The dialogues are weak and look very cliched. Except for a few one-liners, the funny lines fail to lift the film.
The songs by K.M. Radha Krishna are decent. But the placement of songs is poor, and they do not add to the narrative in a big way. The background score by Suresh Bobbili is excellent. His score adds well to the key moments and is the film’s biggest plus.
The cinematography by Vishweshwar S.V is fine, and the edit by Anwar Ali needed to be tighter. There are a lot of scenes that could’ve been chopped from the film.
The production design by Arvind Mule and the costumes by Priyanka Vinna Kota, Aarthi Veeraboyina are okay.
The production values by ETV Win & Krishi Entertainments are adequate.
What’s Hot?
* Ajay Ghosh’s Performance
* Payal Radhakrishna’s Performance
* Good Background Score
* Interval Scene & Pre-Climax Portions
What’s Not?
* Poor Writing & Outdated Treatment
* Unengaging Narrative
* Resolution Of The Conflict
* Zero Emotional Connect
* Too Many Dragged-Out Scenes
* Unwanted & Clichéd Subplots
* Few Illogical & Forced Proceedings
* Weak Characterizations
Verdict: Overall, Papam Prathap feels like a thin idea stretched into a full-length feature, lacking enough substance to hold attention. Apart from a handful of funny moments from Ajay Ghosh in the first half and a few witty one-liners by Prasad Behara towards the end, there’s very little that leaves a lasting impression. It ultimately comes across as yet another underwhelming and forgettable attempt from the ETV Win & team.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.5/5