Srinivasa Kalyanam is a drama film starring Nithiin, Raashi Khanna, and Nandita Sweta in lead roles. Dil Raju produced the film under Sri Venkateswara Creations. Satish Vegesna directed it.
Srinivasa Kalyanam Story
Vasu (Nithiin), an architect, grows up with the traditions instilled by his grandmother (Jayasudha) and believes that marriage is a festival that comes once in a lifetime. He meets and falls in love with a diligent girl, Sri (Raashi Khanna). Her father (Prakash Raj) is a billionaire who strongly believes that marriage is like an agreement and does not necessarily require a lifetime commitment and he considers celebrating and attending marriages a waste of time. The rest of the story is about the celebration of marriage and preaching its importance.
Story Analysis
It’s a single-line script about Two people falling in love and traditionally marrying. They stretched for over 2 hours without any serious conflict. Prakash Raj is the only character that is serious about his profession. However, every major character ridicules him for that reason. Nithiin never works in his office anywhere in the film. Raashi Khanna does normal day jobs but lives a lavish life. Most men in Nithiin’s family sit in their home the whole day doing nothing. While the film preaches too much about the traditions, there are several awkward scenes such as explaining the importance of marriage using whiskey, soda, and ice cubes. These scenes didn’t help the theme of the film but rather spoiled it. The narration follows regular old-school methods of forcing scenes into the script. Moreover, the forced comedy with themes such as fat-shaming is another problem with the film.
The climax is the most ridiculous part of the story. The Bommarillu climax might have influenced the makers to come up with another confession climax. They forced a conflict into the story to make the climax interesting but the drama didn’t work. The confusion between premarital agreement and divorce papers comes as a shocker. The filmmakers could have done a little research before coming up with a fabricated script. There could be a lot of things going wrong in traditional marriages, but the writers seem to have no knowledge of traditional marriages happening in villages. Srinivasa Kalyanam is just a fabricated script with a lot of outdated ideas.
Performances
Nithiin is good in subtle emotional scenes but he seems too dull for the majority of the film as if he is carrying the Earth. Raashi Khanna smiles, blushes and cries without involving too much in the film. She doesn’t have much scope to perform. The chemistry between the lead pair is somewhere between close friends and arranged marriage couples. They don’t look like lovers anywhere in the film. Nandita Sweta is just a filler without a life of her own. Her role is a stereotypical ‘maradalu’ dreaming to marry her ‘bava’ someday. But her performance is good within a limited scope.
Prakash Raj is simply brilliant in the film. He is the most important character and he carries the conflict on his shoulders. There are many popular actors like Jayasudha, Rajendra Prasad, Amani, Naresh, Giri Babu, Poonam Kaur, Annapurna, etc but they remain in the background. They are not memorable except for Jayasudha whose sole purpose is to preach the importance of marriage.
Technical Analysis
The script is fabricated from many old Telugu films. It is evident throughout the film. The characters, scenes, and dialogues don’t fit the story and narrative. Except for a few emotional scenes, there is nothing good about the script. The production values are excellent. There is richness all over the film with lavish sets and great costumes. The art design, particularly the during climax is impressive. The cinematography is good and elevates the scenes. The songs are good but are shot on a dull note. The background score keeps forcing emotions even when nothing happens on screen. This would’ve worked well if the emotions are evoked through direction and performances. The editing is extremely bad. They messed up the scene transitions and the shot placements at several parts of the film. The direction is mediocre. There are many instances in the film where things could have been better.
Conclusion
Srinivasa Kalyanam is a poorly written and poorly made film with a star cast and good production values. You can watch it for its family drama and cultural aspects. Nothing is interesting or impressive about the film. Overall, it’s another out-of-the-mill preachy drama that tries to sell on Bommarillu formula.
Srinivasa Kalyanam
Director: Satish Vegesna
Date Created: 2018-08-09 11:00
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