Director Sekhar Kammula who is hitherto known for handling heartwarming family entertainers has attempted a semi-rural love subject with Fidaa that entertains to a large extent. Although the core concept looks old fashioned, you still would want to watch it as the subject of love can never go outdated in Tollywood.
Varun Tej as Varun is an aspiring doctor who has a dream do his Masters in one of the top universities in the USA. He lives in America along with his two brothers and is not a great social person who doesn’t open up much. What happens when someone like him meets a hyperactive girl (Bhanumathi) from Telangana?
Varun travels to a village in Telangana for his elder brother’s marriage. Bhanumathi happens to be the bride’s sister. Sai Pallavi as Bhanumathi is a fun loving, rooted girl who doesn’t want to leave her village. It is obvious that Varun and Bhanu would fall in love with each other but what happens next? There is a miscommunication plus both have their individual dreams. Bhanu’s dream is to live a contented life in her home soil along with her father. These are the complications involved in their relationship and that is what has been portrayed as a film in just over 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Where Fidaa differs from other usual love stories is, it completely revolves around Sai Pallavi. It largely travels through her perspective which is the major plus point of the film. Bhanumathi is the soul of Fidaa. For someone who doesn’t even know Telugu or even the traditions of the locals but to be like one, it is something difficult. Maybe for that, she deserves all the praise that is bestowed upon her.
It is sportive of an action hero like Tej to have given a go-ahead to the director to let him narrate the story in the perspective of a female lead. Sai Pallavi takes the lion’s share of the screen time and in fact, Varun’s character in the movie makes a lot of mistakes. Probably not many action heroes would have accepted a role like this. As regards performances, for Varun Tej, this role is just like a walk in the park types and he delivers it with an elegant ease. The supporting casts are adept in their portrayals.
To reiterate, dialogues of Fidaa are one of its strong points with Sekhar playing them with effortless ease. Added to that Sai Pallavi takes the responsibility of upping the cheer at the theatre playing a joyful rural girl. The first half is fun and engrossing, thanks to Sai Pallavi for shouldering the screenplay with her presence.
Whereas the second half is where they fight a lot and it gets a little over the top. It gets tiresome after a while and when the film approaches the climax, Fidaa travels in a mundane and predictable track. When we think the film is complete, Sekhar plants a roadblock which finds its way to get resolved. The ensuing scenes bring down the engaging quotient. Vijay C Kumar’s camera work is vibrant and very effective, thanks to some lovely locations. Shakthi Kanth’s music tracks add great value to the proceedings and even his BGM is uplifting.