Ambajipeta Marriage Band fails to make any noise

Hyderabad: After tasting success with a self- piteous role in ‘Colour Photo’, comedian-turned-hero Suhas again dons a softer role of a drummer in a band party while playing a barber at times. He falls in love with a girl hailing from a rich and upper caste family in a village called Ambajipeta set in 2007.

If you think that it would be another hard hitting love story riding on parental opposition, you are wrong because director Dushyanth brings in caste discrimination in a different form. He uses the character of Sharanya Pradeep, twin sister of Suhas, who plays a teacher and takes on the might of feudal lord Venkat by opposing cement bags being stocked up in a classroom. For her grit and determination, Venkat misbehaves with her and she sits on a dharna opposite his house seeking justice. Hence, it becomes Sharanya’s story in the second half and relegates the love saga to the back burner. Without fearing Venkat, she begins to draw crowds for her fight against upper caste men.

Young director Dushyanth should be lauded for exposing the deep-rooted caste system existing in society. But he doesn’t offer any novel resolution to the age-old discrimination. With police officers closing doors on her and reluctant to take her complaint, she threatens to expose the evil deeds of feudal lords and that is the only novelty in this clichéd storyline. When a director is taking up a familiar plot and conflict, he needs to offer refreshing resolution rather than just trying to draw sympathy around a few characters which is quite predictable and the sufferings of downtrodden have been done-to-death in Telugu movies.

The film begins by showing Suhas as a member of band party and lives with his twin sister Sharanya Pradeep and parents. He falls in love with pretty girl Shivani and she also reciprocates after keeping him at a distance for some time. On other hand, Sharanya is a school teacher and also teaches feudal lord Venkat at his home. Feudal lord Venkat cares a damn about lower caste people and keeps ill treating them as he lends money to them on higher interest rates. He is shocked to find a gift card in the hands of Suhas which he saw in the cupboard of his sister and he is quite furious. What will happen to the lovers and Sharanya in the movie, you have to find out in theatres.

Suhas is playing underdog roles with ease and his softer and innocent expressions are captivating. He also shows his fiery side in this movie. Sharanya Pradeep, who played the sister of Sai Pallavi in ‘Fidaa’, comes up with a brilliant performance. Jagadish who was seen with Allu Arjun in ‘Pushpa’ scores well in emotional scenes and cracks a few jokes too. Venkat as a feudal lord is not up to the mark, although he makes his presence felt in this rural drama.

Director Dushyanth rounds up the lives of Suhas and Sharanya in an unconventional way, but could have avoided a few cuss words and repetitive scenes. The crisp runtime augurs well for this tragic rural saga. The film scores a few brownie points by addressing real-life woes, but nothing more than that.