REVIEW: POWER PLAY (Telugu)

Producers- Mahidhar and Devesh
Director-Vijay Kumar Konda

Star Cast- Raj Tarun, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Shamna Kasim Poorna and Hemal Ingle

Genre- Thriller

Rating- ***

OTT Platform- Amazon Prime Video

Intriguingly Superb!

Jyothi Venkatesh

An accident on the highway reveals the link of the accident victim with the commissioner’s son on a clandestine deal.

The minister uses his power clout to divert the media attention from the accident case to a fake currency racket and Vijay, (Raj Tarun) a happy go lucky youngster becomes the biggest scapegoat in the racket.

A huge racket is busted in the city, involving the wards of some influential people. To divert the news cycle from focusing on this, a fake notes case is brought to the forefront and Vijay is framed for it.

More than a thriller, Power Play starts out as an emotional drama, but shifts gears once the story gets into the thick of things.

Vijay seems to have everything going for him when he lands a plush job and is about to get married to his girlfriend Keerthy (Hemal Ingle) when this costs him both.

It forces Vijay to set out to investigate on his own to get evidence to prove his innocence. It unfolds several nail biting incidents including a political murder.

Rah Tarun manages to bear the entire weight of the film on his shoulders with effortless ease while Hemal Ingle who showed promise when she made her debut with the Marathi film Ashi Hi Aashiqui has hardly any scope other than kissing Vijay lip to lip passionately.

While Kota Srinivasa Rao lends restraint to his role as the Chief Minister, Shamna Kasim Poorna as his daughter manages to lend an eerie dimension to her evil role as the would- be Chief Minister who sets out to seduce her way through to get any deed done.

Ajay, Madhunandan, Raja Ravindra, Bhupal, Dhanraj, Pooja Ramachandran and Prince in a brief role are okay.

Director Vijay Kumar Konda, who is known for breezy romantic entertainers, easily sets out to shift into a thriller genre for the first time.

He does a commendable job in dissecting the complex plot as a director engagingly. Though the film has a slow start, once the main conflict begins Vijay Kumar makes sure that the film is racy enough to keep you glued to your seat with clever twists and turns.

Especially very commendable are the way the screenplay has been written as well as the deft editing by Pravin Puri besides of course the splendid cinematography by Andrew.

To sum up, I should say that it is after a long time that I was able to enjoy a sick thriller which does not flout logic and is engagingly appealing to the viewer at the first viewing itself.

The film is not only very intriguing by way of its plat but what’s more also appealingly superb on its own and I, for one would not be surprised or shocked if any enterprising producer from Bollywood decides to take up the pleasant task of remaking the film in Hindi too and make money