Sankranthiki Vasthunam is a 2025 Telugu language family comedy film written and directed by Anil Ravipudi. The film has Venkatesh, Aishwarya Rajesh & Meenakshi Chaudhary playing the lead roles while Sai Kumar, VTV Ganesh, Upendra Limaye, Naresh, Prithviraj, Srinivas Avasarala, Pammi Sai, Muralidhar Goud, Anand Rama Raju, Sai Srinivas, Mahesh Balaraj, Pradeep K, Chitti, Revanth, Srinivas Reddy, Surendar, Amit & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Bheems Ceciroleo while the film is produced by Dil Raju & Sirish under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner.
Story:
Tech entrepreneur Satya Akella (Avasarala Srinivas) returns to Telangana, India, from the United States but is kidnapped as soon as he arrives. Chief Minister Keshava (Naresh) asks police officer Meenakshi (Meenakshi Chaudhary) to lead the rescue mission. To help her, Meenakshi seeks the help of her ex-boyfriend and former cop, Yadagiri Damodhar Raju (Venkatesh). However, Raju has left his tough career behind and now lives a quiet life in Rajahmundry, with his wife Bhagyam (Aishwarya Rajesh) and family. Meenakshi travels to Rajahmundry to convince Raju to join the mission. Will she be able to bring him back into action? Why was Satya kidnapped? Who is behind it? And how will Raju handle the rescue? Find out the answers in the movie.
What about on-screen performances?
Venkatesh is the saving grace of the film. His natural comic timing and relatable charm will definitely connect with family audiences. Portraying a devoted family man, a compassionate husband to his sweet village wife, and a former lover to a young and sharp female cop, Venky delivers a seamless and impressive performance as Y.D.Raju. As said in the trailer, whenever he comes out with family entertainers, it is Victory all over for him.
Aishwarya Rajesh is the surprise package of the film. She is excellent in her role as an innocent wife who is possessive about her husband and at the same time, caring too. Her comedy timing is on point and she leaves a huge mark as Bhagyam. There is no doubt is saying that her role will be relatable to most of the female audiences.
Meenakshi Chaudhary shines with her charismatic and confident performance as the ex-lover. Her playful interactions with Aishwarya Rajesh in the second half add a fun dynamic to the plot. But she could not provide the fun angle as required when compared to Aishwarya Rajesh as her pairing with Venky didn’t work as expected.
On the comedy front, ‘Animal’ fame Upendra Limaye scores brownie points with his unique comedy and the child actor Revanth who played the hero’s son does well and brings down the theatre in a few fun scenes.
Sai Kumar, Naresh, VTV Ganesh, Srinivas Reddy, Pammi Sai, Muralidhar Goud, and Anand Rama Raju are decent in their limited comedy roles.
Srinivas Avasarala is fine in a key role while Sai Srinivas, Prithviraj, Mahesh Balaraj, Pradeep K, Chitti, Surendar, Amit Tiwari, and others are fine in their limited parts.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Anil Ravipudi is routine and very predictable offering no novelty. It is the fun gags and the track between husband-wife & ex-lover that generates most of the comedy.
The screenplay too is devoid of any logic as it mostly runs to make the gags work and nothing else. Though the concept of bringing the ex-lover back into the lives of a happy couple works with the target audiences, the blending of this track with the whole rescue mission track is done in a senseless manner which is the biggest drawback of the film. Also, the track involving the teacher looks forced into the plot.
Director Anil Ravipudi as usual continues the same thing he has been doing ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’ where he runs the film mostly on a few comedy sequences and does not give much scope to the plot to take over. He utilizes Venky’s strength with the family audience and plays to the galleries with a few relatable fun scenes. His presentation is neat too.
The dialogues are good. The fun one-liners work well and all the dialogues Venky delivers about the wives and ex-lovers are well-written.
The songs by Bheems Ceciroleo are the biggest strength of the film. There is no doubt in saying that the 2 blockbuster songs he provided namely- ‘Godari Gattu’ & ‘Blockbuster Pongal’ are the main pulling factors for the family audience to come into the theatres. His background score is neat.
The Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is solid, effectively capturing the fun moments and enhancing the overall atmosphere while the edit by Tammiraju is good. But a little trim in the second half could’ve been better.
The production values by Sri Venkateswara Creations are good.
What’s Hot?
* Venkatesh’s Performance & Comedy Timing
* Aishwarya Rajesh’s Performance
* Godari Gattu & Blockbuster Pongal Songs
* All Fun Portions of Venky With Wife & Ex-Lover
* Upendra Limaye & Child Actor Revanth’s Portions
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Predictable & Half Baked Plot
* Weak Screenplay Without Any Twists
* Rescue Mission Part Lacks Seriousness/Logic
* Love Track With Meenakshi Doesn’t Work
* Stretched Out Second Half With a Forced Teacher Angle
* VFX/CGI in the Dry Fields Portions
Verdict: Though the film runs on a typical Anil Ravipudi template style where the plot doesn’t make any sense, it works well coz of the comedy gags and the dialogue humor that is generated through the characters. It heavily rests on the shoulders of Venky’s natural comedy timing, Aishwarya Rajesh’s fun portions, and the relatable humor between the ex-cop, excellent wife, and ex-lover along with a blockbuster pongal album by Bheems Ceciroleo. Overall, it is a one-time watch fun film that takes advantage of the festive season!!
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.75/5