Premistava is a 2025 romantic action thriller film written and directed by Vishnuvardhan. The film has Akash Murali & Aditi Shankar playing the lead roles while R Sarathkumar, Prabhu, Khushbu Sundar, Kalki Koechlin, Shiv Panditt, Raja, George Kora, Vikkals Vikram, Mathew Varghese, Sriranjani, Parvathi T, Prajna Ravi & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja while the film is produced by S. Xavier Britto & Sneha Britto under XB Film Creators banner.
Story:
During their college days, Arjun (Akash Murali) falls in love with Diya (Aditi Shankar). Their relationship was soon disrupted when Diya received a job offer in Portugal and prepared to relocate which in a way resulted in their break up due to misunderstandings. Seven years later, Arjun was shocked to learn that Diya had been arrested in Portugal for murdering Karthik Adhinarayanan, the son of a wealthy and influential businessman, Adhinarayanan. What will Arjun do for the love of his life? What is the actual story behind Karthik’s murder? Needs to be seen in the film.
What about on-screen performances?
Akash Murali, son of late actor Murali and brother of Atharvaa, delivers a mediocre performance. He still looks very raw as an actor and he needs to get the basics right with his acting, expressions, and body language.
Aditi Shankar, Director Shankar’s daughter, portrays Diya with grace, bringing depth to her role as the central figure around whom the love story and mystery revolves. She shoulders the film with her strong personality and mature portrayal.
R Sarath Kumar does an excellent job in a challenging role that leaves an impact towards the end of the film. While Khushbu Sundar as his wife also gets her moments to shine towards the finale.
Kalki Koechlin gets a role tailor-made for her, and she is fine with it. Her Telugu dubbing is poor.
Prabhu comes towards the flag end of the film and leaves a fair mark while Shiv Panditt, Raja, George Kora, Vikkals Vikram, Mathew Varghese, Sriranjani, Parvathi T, Prajna Ravi & all others are okay.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Vishnuvardhan is routine and misfires badly with the development of the characters and the scenes. It runs on a simple plot where two lovers, separated by life’s circumstances, are reunited years later by a tragic fate – a murder.
The screenplay is not up to the mark and falters big time with the inconsistent pacing and predictable plot developments. Though a few love scenes looked a bit fine in the first half, we are never told how they get attracted to each other nor made understand what binds them together, as much as they begin to live together. The whole thriller element related to the murder failed to maintain the suspense or build any tension and the jail portions in the latter half too lacked the intended impact.
Also, the happenings in a foreign land could have been handled better. More conviction was needed in the episodes related to Arjun’s unraveling the truth. There is a scene where the hero holds a school bus with kids hostage and even has these fights with cops and goons in a foreign country and these portions do not create any tension or do not build any kind of emotion and are ended just like that very conveniently.
Director Vishnuvardhan does a neat job as always with his presentation. The whole look & technicalities of the film are stylish but despite these strengths, the film’s technical prowess is overshadowed by its storytelling shortcomings. Also, he could not build good chemistry between the lead actors largely coz of the casting choices and even the lead characterizations lacked depth for them to be memorable or talked about.
The Telugu dialogues are good but the Telugu dubbing of a few supporting actors is middling.
The songs by Yuvan Shankar Raja are decent. A couple of songs are good to hear while the lyrics in Telugu are a bit off track. The background score however doesn’t leave any mark.
Cameron Eric Bryson’s cinematography looks stunning on screen. All the Portugal portions are shot well.
The edit by A. Sreekar Prasad needed to be sharper. Almost about 20 minutes of the film could’ve been chopped.
The production values by XB Film Creators are good.
What’s Hot?
* Aditi Shankar’s Performance
* A Couple Of Decent Songs
* Good Break Up Portions
* Pre Climax Portions & Twist
What’s Not?
* Predictable Plot & Poor Screenplay
* Weak Chemistry Between The Leads
* Zero Emotional Connect
* Impactless Jail Portions & Portugal Parts
* Half Baked Characterizations
* Dragged Out Second Half
* Telugu Dubbing Of Few Supporting Actors
Verdict: Overall, Premistava aims to deliver a heartfelt romantic thriller but fails to do so due to its predictable plot and inconsistent writing. It definitely falls short of the standard the director had set with his earlier films and having a better lead actor could have made a difference.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.5/5