Sridevi Soda Center Movie Review: Routine story with some interesting twists

‘Sridevi Soda Center’ starring Sudhir Babu and Anandhi as lead roles was released on Friday under heavy buzz. The movie team promoted the film in large scale by conducting talk shows with Prabhas. The director Karuna Kumar’s previous film “Palasa” result also raised hopes on the product from its announcement. Let's check out whether the film entertained the audience or not.

Story

An upper-caste girl Sridevi (Anandhi) falls in love with an electrician Suribabu (Sudhir Babu) who belongs to same village. A caste fanatic head from the girl’s community instigates her father to oppose the love. On the other hand, Suribabu was imprisoned in a clash with a rival group. When Suribabu is about to be acquitted in the court, the story takes a turn and he returns to Jail. With serious turns, the story reaches a shocking climax.

Analysis

Sridevi Soda Center has a much darker theme than the promotional content. Inter-caste love story backdrop is quite regular in Telugu cinema but this film’s core point has striking similarities with the short film ‘Oor Iravu’ (starring Prakash raj, Sai Pallavi) In ‘Paava Kadhaigal’. The realistic raw ambiance that was reflected in the director Karuna Kumar’s first film ‘Palasa’ is missing in this film. The first half of the film is pretty much a run-of-mill narration in which every scene follows a predictable path. Only with the twist that comes before the interval, things get on track which made audience to sit after the intermission. However, the producers spent lavishly on the boat race, songs, fights, and the result is visible on the screen. Entertainment scenes in first half which were added for a bit of commerciality helped a lot. The crux of the film opens up as we get into the second half. Sridevi’s revolt against her father, villain Kasi‘s chilling cruelty followed by Suribabu’s onslaught, etc. engage the audience who prefer serious themes.

Performances

Sudhirbabu as Suribabu has done a commendable job in action episodes. Despite being an urban-oriented hero, he transformed well into the rural character. However, his dubbing for few words sounds too odd for the character. In some emotional scenes, a bit more overplay would have been better. Heroine Anandhi is adequate as Sodakottu Sridevi. Naresh made people feel Awe with his performance. His character has a variety of body language. Raghubabu, Ajay, and Satyam Rajesh tried to make their mark.

Technicalities

Director Karuna Kumar should be appreciated for the dialogues in some places. Manisharma music helps the film to an extent. Cinematography and art work were outstanding which brought richness in frames. Production values of 70MM Entertainment are excellent which made this project not ended as a small budget film.