Movie Review: 'Venkatadri Express'

Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Rakul Preet, Nagineedu, Brahmaji and Jayaprakash Reddy
Director: Merlapaka Gandhi
Rating: 2.5

Yet another young director, Merlapaka Gandhi, makes his debut with 'Venkatadri Express'. He successfully turns a simple plot, not a regular masala subject, into an entertaining film.

The simple story goes thus: Ram Murthy (Nagineedu), a retired headmaster, is a strict father. He follows a strict code of conduct in his house — family members are allowed only 100 mistakes after which they will be thrown out of the house for life.

Sundeep (Sundeep Kishan), the younger son of the house is a helpful guy, but always gets into trouble whenever he helps anybody. Having used up his quota of 99 mistakes, he stands on the threshold of being thrown out of his home.

In the meantime, his elder brother Brahmaji’s (Brahmaji) marriage is fixed at Tirupati and the entire family leaves for Tirupathi by Venkatadri Express.

As usual, Sundeep gets into some minor skirmish and misses the train. To avoid being punished for his 100th mistake, he tries to catch the train. There begins his adventure. In the process, he meets Prarthana (Rakul Preet) and how he joins his family members forms the crux of the story.

Sundeep Kishan delivers a decent performance, but needs to work on his expressions. The action scenes leave a lot to be desired. Nagineedu plays the strict father to perfection and gives yet another good performance. Newcomer Rakul Preet Singh is pretty and impressive in the small role that she has. She has a bright future. Saptagiri and Tagubothu Ramesh provide good comic relief. Brahmaji brings on the laughter in his brief role.

Kudos to Melapaka Gandhi for turning a simple story into an interesting film.

Though the story is predictable, he manages some good entertainment with his screenplay. The only drawback is that the film gets boring and drags too much in the last hour. 

Veteran cinematographer Chota K. Naidu handles the camera adeptly. The three songs in the film composed by Ramana Gogula make for pleasant listening. Dialogues are good.

Despite all its drawbacks, 'Venkatadri Express' is entertaining.