Ustaad Review – The tale of a young Pilot fails to impress

Ustaad is a Telugu language romantic drama which is written & directed by Phanideep. The film has Sri Simha Koduri & Kavya Kalyanram playing the lead roles while Gautham Vasudev Menon, Anu Hasan, Ravindra Vijay, Venkatesh Maha, Ravi Siva Teja, Sai Kiran Yedida & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Akeeva B and the film is produced by Rajani Korrapati, Rakesh Reddy Gaddam & Himank Reddy Duvvuru under Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram & Krishi Entertainments banners.

Story:

The film is about Surya (Sri Simha Koduri), a hot-blooded youth who loves his motorcycle called Ustaad. He is also in love with Meghana (Kavya Kalyanram). He keeps learning life lessons from his bike as he keeps traveling with it. During this journey, he discovers his passion for flying and decides to become a pilot. How does he become a pilot and how will he win over the girl he loved forms the crux of the story.

What about on-screen performances?

Sri Simha is excellent in his part as Surya. This is surely his career-best performance to date. He gets to play 3 time periods in the film and he does fair justice to all the 3 variations & looks through his body language and dialogue delivery.

Kavya Kalyanram is in great form and she continues her good run with her choice of scripts. She excels in her role as Meghana and gives all the required expressions with ease.

Gautham Vasudev Menon lends able support and delivers a commendable performance as the chief pilot Captain Joseph D’Souza. It is good to see him dubbing his own voice in Telugu as well.

Anu Hasan leaves a huge mark as the hero’s mother. All her scenes with Sri Simha have come out really well, especially her drinking scene.

Ravindra Vijay also does a superb job as a bike mechanic.

Ravi Siva Teja is just about okay. His dubbing is a big minus.

Venkatesh Maha is neat in his little cameo while the rest of the supporting artists are fine.

What about off-screen talents?

The story by Phanideep is pretty decent. Though it is a normal underdog story where a careless youth decides to become a pilot with the help of his bike, the backdrop and the setup he chooses to tell this story is a bit fresh. It has good realistic drama laced with light-hearted humour and a neat love track between the lead pair.

However, his screenplay is not up to the mark. The drama keeps unfolding at a leisurely pace and there are no big high moments in the film which was very essential for a plot like this. The marriage talks and the break-up portions in the second half are dealt with neatly. But the climax portions didn’t provide the tense moments that is had to deliver.

Phanideep’s direction has its share of ups & downs. He has handled a few scenes in a mature manner and has left some loose ends in a few others as well. Being a debut director, his work is passable and his writing in the second half is commendable.

The dialogues are good and a few funny one-liners are well written.

The songs by Akeeva B are forgettable and even his background score looks out of place in the narrative. He tried to do something different with his score, but it didn’t click as expected in the plot.

The camerawork by Pavan Kumar Pappula is impressive while the edit by Carthic Cuts needed to be a lot more crisper.

The production values by Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram & Krishi Entertainments are adequate.

What’s Hot?

* Sri Simha’s Performance
* Kavya Kalyanram’s Performance
* Gautham Menon & Anu Hasan’s Performances
* Good Realistic Drama
* Decent Second Half & Pre-Climax Portions
* Cinematography & Production Values

What’s Not?

* Slow Paced Narrative
* Half Baked Screenplay
* Forgettable Songs
* Underwhelming Background Score
* No Major Highs
* Middling VFX & Graphics

Verdict: Ustaad is a film that doesn’t offer big entertainment value to its viewers. The movie only manages to establish sporadic connections and might test the patience of viewers who are not inclined towards a slower narrative pace.

Telugubulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5