Dasara

Srikanth Odela's Dasara is basically dealing with two major plot threads. One is of the village of Veerlapalli and the political conflict there and how Silk Bar is important to that political conflict. And the other one is a romance thread which is what the director ends up focusing on and forgets the other plot thread in second half.

First half was quite good. The interval was quite well designed in a rustic fashion. You can tell what will happen, though it's executed novelly, but you hope it doesn't occur. But second half was dragged on unnecessarily and the plot threads so nicely set up in the first half are not properly conlcuded. Action set pieces were good and technicalities were quite good, kudos to director for designing such beautiful action scenes.

I was so engaged with first half and the characterizations. It was impressive to see all those characters and the village itself became a character in the film. I was sucked into the world and forgot about the snacks I brought. Second half overall did not meet my expectation. Post certain reveals in the second half you know where it's going and your wondering why the movie isn't ending because the setup is done for the climax but it just drags on unnecessarily. Even more of an issue as there are a few major plot points and only one of them is focused on in second half, the rest are forgotten and a rushed scene occurs in the neck end to shoehorn in a short conclusion which doesn't work or give impact.

But Nani acting was wonderful and a major asset to the film, can be considered as one of this best performances. He lived as Dharani! Deekshith was really good and you will love his friendship with Nani. Shine Tom Chacko has a meaty role and he is good in it, not award worthy but good. Samuthikarini and Sai Kumar had pretty good characters but their lack of screen time and threads were inconclusive which lacked impact. Poorna appears as Chacko's wife and she is set up in a good role but she also doesn't get enough screen time or writing for us to fully understand her, although her character seemed to have potential much like Sai Kumar's.

The screenplay is quite good in the first half. The director sets up all the different issues and plot points really well. However, he focuses only on one of those in the second half which causes the main issue and its dragged out as there isn't enough meat to last til climax for that thread. So screenplay can be said to have faltered in second half.

The director attempts to create some high moments which is noticeable but he fails in delivering those highs. There are multiple scenes and important changes that certain characters make and they lack in impact because the director doesn't emphasize them enough in my opinion. Same with the final scene at Silk Bar, which whole thread was what I was most invested in but got lost.

Srikanth Odela does quite well for being a debutant. Very impressive talent, especially in the action scenes and his vision for creating this connect with the village. He makes the village a character which is his major success. He lost my interest as second half progressed as despite the climax being setup he drags the movie for extra 20 min and forgets about the other plot lines which I personally was more invested in during the first half. Apart from that he did good, if he learns from these mistakes he can deliver greater films in my opinion.

Cinematography is bang awesome. Some scenes had issues with green screen. But the cinematography and sets were a major plus point and was the saving grace for me in all those boring scenes in second half. They truly sucked me into the world of Veerlapalli. The music by SaNa was also awesome. Chartbuster music before itself and it took the movie to next level in some scenes. Except for one rap music scene, it was quite authentic. And the Telangana dialect and dialogues were all so intriguing. I don't know much about culture their so I felt like I learned a lot.

Overall it's a mixed bag which has potential but the director fumbled in the second half causing it to be left as a mediocre attempt. Some of the scenes which were dragged could have been chopped to add more to the story and tie off certain plot threads.