SONTHA OORU Review

Film: SONTHA OORU Rating: 3/5 (Off Beat) Banner: Sravya Productions Cast: Raja, Theertha, L B Sriram, Swathi, Tanikella, M S, Jeeva, Vijaychander, Jayaprakash Reddy and others Music: Saketh Sairam Cinematography: Sabu James Director: P Sunil Kumar Reddy Producers: Y Ravindra Babu, Kishore Basireddy Release date: 21/03/2009 Story A good tale gone bad, the story is set on the backdrop of a village which has Rudrudu (L B) who is the caretaker of the graveyard and the funerals. He is known for his open nature and though many in the village dislike him, he has friends in the form of Bujjigadu (Raja) and Malli (Teertha) who is a prostitute. Bujji is in love with Malli deeply and wants to marry her and Rudrudu wants to help him. And then there is Devudu Babu (Tanikella) who is more like the village elder and Naidu (Jeeva), Reddy (Vijaychander) who are the residents of the village. The situations take a turn when the government announces that they want to take over the village by giving compensation to the villagers and come up with a special economic zone. This is forwarded by the MRO (MS) and Devudu decides that it is in best interest of the society and the villagers to sell the entire village. However, Rudrudu is not happy with it but then the decision is taken and the evacuation process begins. Will there be a change in the villagers? What happens to Bujji's love story with Malli? Does anyone listen to Rudrudu's words? All this forms the rest of the story. Presentation The director has attempted to come up with a grim reality subject but then he has not been able to narrate the story to its deepest root to create the impact. The script was written weakly and the screenplay was just okay. Full marks to the dialogues for coming out with some exceptional truths in a lighter vein. Music was just okay and the cinematography did not have much to do but sometimes it looked a bit disturbing. Editing was not crisp. Coming to the cast, Raja did his role but it did not have much significance, Teertha was totally bold and stood her role as a prostitute really well, she has a very dusky sex appeal though beauty is not her trait. Jayaprakash Reddy, Vijayachander were just passing clouds while MS was just there for few minutes. The real showstealer and the life and soul for the film is L B Sriram who deserves an award for his dedication towards the role and his powerful dialogues that were told in a rather philosophical yet truthful manner. Swathi was also upto the standard. The others did their bit to contribute. Conclusion The film is more of an art movie and there was nothing commercial about it, however it should have carried some deep message for the audience. While the first half goes about explaining the characters and their lives, it is not until the second half where the actual plot is touched and then again it is back to the characters and their lives. So, technically there is no message and instead the climax is very tragic and depressing leaving the audience in daze and sadness. L B Sriram's performance stands out in this one though.