BOTTOM LINE
Hunting The Audience.
OUR RATING
2/5
CENSOR
‘U/A’ Certified, 125 mins.
What is Bethaludu about?
The voices inside Dinesh (Vijay Antony) lead him to Macherla. What is in that place and whose voice is that he is hearing and finally what happens, in the end, is what the film is all about.
How is Vijay Antony’s performance?
Vijay Antony is a below par performer who has been doing strong subjects to make up for it. The hard-hitting realistic tone of the films do all the work for him and it is enough if he just poses with a serious face. He presents the effect well but ultimately there is no depth in it. In Bethaludu this problem is visible even more as the subject is weak and he has to hold with the performance.
Direction By Pradeep Krishnamoorthy ?
The film has an interesting idea and a neat story to boost but direction by Pradeep Krishnamoorthy is a letdown. There is visibly no question of effort but the problem is it is not enough to engage the viewers. The screenplay and editing being terrible add to the already existing problem with direction.
The film begins interestingly. It starts to get repetitive and drags in the first half itself but still the suspense keeps one hooked. It is that way till the interval part. Post interval it starts nicely and continues in an engaging manner to a point and then all hell breaks loose. The narrative and tone of the film shift completely. This jarring change makes things only worse. Add to it a weak villain, any bit of momentum build gets collapsed completely.
The entire climax block feels like a regular commercial masala movie. It has a couple of interesting funny moments but they are literally scraping the bottom. Overall, Bethaludu is a disappointment. It had an interesting premise for sure, though, if only it was made interestingly too.
Arundhathi Nair and others?
Arundhati Nair is a good performer and she shows her skills in few parts of the movie neatly. YG Mahendran as hero’s wellwisher and caring guardian is good. Meera Krishnan is aptly cast for the mother role, she brings dignity to the role. Aadukalam Murugadoss has a short role but he manages to impress in that small time. Kamal Krishna is wasted as the baddie. Others are apt for their sort parts.
Music and other departments?
Vijay Antony himself provides music for the film. It is alright. The real highlight is the background score where he has put the maximum effort. The cinematography is fine. Editing is a big letdown. Dialogues are okay.
Highlights?
Genuine Creepy Feeling
Few unexpected moments
Pre-interval
Drawbacks?
Slow and boring
Predictable twist
Screenplay
Editing
Alternative Take
Better screenplay with the movie in the lines of Mayuri should have done the trick.
Did I enjoy it?
In parts
Will you recommend it?
No. But if you have a lot of time to waste, why not.
Bethaludu Review by Siddhartha Toleti
– Bethaludu is a novel attempt by Vijay Antony. Review will be up shortly. Visit back this space.
– Climax goes awry, regular dose of action.
– Movie slips the track with drugs and mafia taking over the story after Jayalaksmi’s secret revealed.
– Good performance by Vijay Antony, he is trying to living both positive and negative roles but mostly one serious expression through out though!
– First Half Report: Interesting first thirty minutes but later Jayalaksmi hunt feels dragged. Crisp first half and Jayalaksmi mystery makes us wait for second half.
– Vijay’s search for Jayalaksmi continues.
– Time for second song ‘Jayalakshmi’, Vijay starts searching for Jayalaksmi who is unknown to him.
– Movie is on dead serious mode with Vijay being harassed by an invisible Ghost voice in his head.
– Thrilling suspense element started in the first 15 minutes itself.
– Vijay and Arundathi Nair makes a good pair as couple.
– Show started with Dinesh (Vijay Antony) getting hypnotized scene.
Bethaludu
Movie Review Live Updates Begin from 7.30AM IST.
– Climax goes awry, regular dose of action.
– Movie slips the track with drugs and mafia taking over the story after Jayalaksmi’s secret revealed.
– Good performance by Vijay Antony, he is trying to living both positive and negative roles but mostly one serious expression through out though!
– Time for second song ‘Jayalakshmi’, Vijay starts searching for Jayalaksmi who is unknown to him.
– Movie is on dead serious mode with Vijay being harassed by an invisible Ghost voice in his head.
– Thrilling suspense element started in the first 15 minutes itself.
– Vijay and Arundathi Nair makes a good pair as couple.
– Show started with Dinesh (Vijay Antony) getting hypnotized scene.
Bethaludu Preview:
Vijay Antony was a small-time musician who turned into acting some time back. After turning a hero, he knew his strength quite well and stuck to story-oriented films and maintained his place in the Tamil industry.
But it was the release of his last film Bichagadu which made him an overnight sensation in both the states. The film saw a very low key release in both the two Telugu states and no one knew about it at all.
Things only started working when the mouth talk slowly started spreading all over. Day after day the film started impressing one and all and grew from strength with every single day.
A time came when everyone started talking about the film and thronged the theaters big time. Soon, the film was declared a huge blockbuster and the situation was such that the film pushed away many Telugu releases.
The film went on to collect over 20 cores and even ran for 100 days which is quite a rare sight in today’s time and date. Naturally, Vijay Antony became a star to reckon with and all his moves were being keenly observed now.
So when the time came for his new film to be announced there was craze from the first day itself. The Telugu dubbing rights of Bethaludu were bought for a fancy price surprising many.
The first look posters and teaser did the trick for the film and once again Vijay became talking point once again. Both in Tamil and Telugu the project has caught on quite well and Vijay gave the finishing touch when he directly released the first ten minutes of the film to the media.
This move was quite shocking and showcased the guts of Vijay Antony as a producer and actor. Now the film is set for a massive release today and the record is that it is releasing in over 500 screens in just the Telugu states.
This is something big for a dubbed film. The crowds are also excited about this horror comedy which is touted to have some out of the box thrills.
Titled Saithan in Tamil this film is written and directed by Pradeep Krishnamoorthy. The film features Arundhathi Nair as the lead actress and is one of the most awaited in the recent times and is expected to surely take a massive opening at least in the B and C centers.
