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Chitralahari

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Sai Dharam Tej (Vijay Krishna) Kalyani Priyadarshan (Lahari) Nivetha Pethuraj (K. Swecha) Sunil (Michael) Vennela Kishore (Kishore) Krishna Murali Posani (Narayana) Brahmaji (Janardhan) Himaja (Navneetha) Pavitra Lokesh (Swecha's Mother) V. Jayaprakash (CEO) Rohini Hattangadi (Judge) Rao Ramesh (Lawyer Purushottham) Bharath Reddy (Bharath) Hyper Aadi (Ajay) Prabhas Sreenu (Repair shop owner) Sudharshan (Vijay's friend) Yeissha Adarah (Lahari's friend) Chammak Chandra

Thirumala Kishore

Down on luck and depressed by constant failures in personal and professional life, Vijay is desperately in search of that single stroke of fortune that could turn his life around. But what if the power to rewrite his destiny lies within?

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Chitralahari Review: Almost a feel-good film

Rating: ( 2.5 / 5).

Vijay (Sai Dharam Tej) struggles for success. Not only in his career but also in simple daily events. He is a talented engineer who has a proposal for a project which he believes will save many lives. Despite his best efforts, he gets nowhere. Amidst his rejections and the taunting neighbours, he finds solace in the form of his father’s encouragement, and his girlfriend Lahari’s (Kalyani Priyadarshan) love. However, he does lie to Lahari about his drinking habit which she absolutely despises.

Swecha, Lahari’s cynical friend advises her to rethink her relationship if it was based on lies. Swecha also happens to be a part of the corporation to which Vijay pitches his project to, and the one who likes his concept. The story, which starts with Vijay being questioned in court, unravels to reveal how he ended up there, whether he finds success and if he reunites with his lover. 

Cast: Sai Dharam Tej, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nivetha Pethuraj Director: Kishore Tirumala

Chitralahari has many interesting points to put forth. It is an honest story with no frills. And that’s what wins. However, it falls a little short on harvesting the emotions and drama in the lives of these characters. The makers put more effort to write one-liners about life, love, and gender, which to be honest is rather unnecessary. What was impressive to me was that, despite the misleading trailer, the film isn’t a triangular love story. The writer doesn’t go down the easy route of adding a romantic angle with Nivetha, just because she’s the other female lead. The relationship between Swecha and Vijay is strictly professional, platonic, and significant to the plot.  Kalyani plays to her strengths as the indecisive, mild-mannered Lahari. Same goes for Nivetha who convinces the audience that she is the boss you would be afraid of. Sai Dharam Tej is impressive in a role that isn’t exactly his comfort zone. It really looks like he's channeled something of his own into Vijay. It would be delightful to see him improve further, for which there is clearly still scope. The music, besides the introduction song (particularly the whistle tune), really doesn’t stay with you nor does it do much for the film.  All in all, Chitralahari falls just a tad bit short of being a feel-good movie. Whether it is the fact that the emotions aren’t coming through or if it's because there is too much going on in the two-hour runtime, is for you to decide. However, this isn’t a bad watch. If you have the time, go for it.

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Release date : April 12, 2019

123telugu.com Rating : 3/5

Starring : Sai Dharam Tej, Kalyani Priyadarshin, Nivetha Pethuraj, Sunil, Posani Krishna Murali

Director : Kishore Tirumala

Producers : Naveen Yerneni, Y Ravi Shankar, Mohan Cherukuri

Music Director : Devisri Prasad

Cinematographer : Karthik Ghattamaneni

Editor : A Sreekar Prasad

Chitralahari is a film which needs to click at any cost as Sai Dharam Tej is going through a rough patch in his career. Directed by Kishore Thirumala, this film has hit the screens today. Let’s see whether Tej gets his much needed hit or not.

Vijay(Sai Dharam Tej) is an engineering graduate who develops an app and keeps approaching various companies. But to his bad luck, he gets rejected most of the time. Left with no choice, he starts working at a TV shop and falls in love with Lahari(Kalyani Priyadarshan). But things change with the entry of Shanti(Nivetha Pehturaj) as Vijay loses his love and hope in life. Rest of the story is as to how Vijay gets back on his feet and proves that he is not a loser and becomes successful in life.

Plus Points:

Sai Dharam suits the loser’s role in a superb manner. He has caught the emotions of the character perfectly and drives the film through his expressions. His performance in all the scenes with his father Posani is very good and Tej showcases moving emotions during this time.

Kalyani Priyadarshan is just about okay as the confused lover. But Nivetha Pehturaj gets a meaty role and is superb in her serious character. Right from her expressions to her body language, she suited the role of a corporate head perfectly.

Posani is amazing as Tej’s dad and his character are relatable to every middle-class parent in the society. Like always, Vennela Kishore was hilarious in his role as an English speaking Tamil guy. Wish he had more screen presence.

Sunil gets a good role and was okay in the first half. There are many situations in the film where the youth who are struggling in life will connect to. Brahmaji was efficient as the crooked boss. Dialogues need a special mention as they run the show most of the time.

Minus Points:

One of the biggest drawbacks of the film is the pace. Things take forever to come to the actual point. Also, the proceedings have a dejavu kind of a feel as such emotions and break up in love stories have been showcased in many films previously.

The climax of the film is not that gripping and could have been better as things have been wrapped up in a hasty manner. Kalyani and her role are not convincing as her character lacks clarity in many areas.

There is not much of comedy and entertainment in the film as it runs on a serious note. Though the emotions work well, somehow the spark in the proceedings are missing.

Technical Aspects:

Production values of the film are decent as the film has been wrapped up on a simple and neat note. Music by DSP is disappointing as some good songs would have made a world of difference to this film. Editing is crisp and so were the dialogues which had a lot of depth. Kalyani Priyadarshan has been dressed in a bad manner as she looks old school in most of the screens.

Coming to the director Kishore Thirumala, he has done just an okay job with the film. His strength is dialogues and emotions and he has executed them well here. But you always get a feeling that the film misses that spark either in the narration or screenplay which could have lifted the proceedings to another level. He narrates the film in a slow manner and does not showcase anything new but presents Sai Dharam Tej in a neatly.

On the whole, Chitralahari is the emotional story of an underdog with some decent moments in both the halves. But the slow pace and serious tone of the film may not be liked by a section of the audience who come expecting entertainment. Because of this, the box office prospects of the film will also be tested. Having said that, the film is way better than Tej’s previous duds and has some feel-good moments which are quite relatable to the youth. Finally, the film can easily be given a shot once but just keep your expectations in check.

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

Click here for Telugu Review

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A Very Good Weekend Watch.

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'Chitralahari' review: Too much, too little

Vijay (Sai Dharam Tej) struggles for success. Not just in his career, but also in day-to-day events. He is a talented engineer who has a proposal for a project which he believes will save many lives. Despite his best efforts, he gets nowhere. Amidst his rejections and the taunting neighbours, he finds solace in the form of his father’s encouragement and his girlfriend’s Lahari’s (Kalyani Priyadarshan) love.

However, he does lie to Lahari about his alcohol addiction which she absolutely despises. Swecha, Lahari’s cynical friend, advices her to rethink her relationship if it is based on lies. Swecha also happens to be a part of the corporation to which Vijay pitches his project to, and the one who likes his concept. The story which starts with Vijay being questioned in court, unravels to reveal how he ended up there, whether he finds success and if he reunites with his lover. 

Chitralahari has many interesting points to put forth. It is an honest story with no frills. And that’s what wins. However, it falls a little short on harvesting all the emotion and drama that the characters’ circumstances pack. It only makes you less invested in the characters’ struggles. 

The effort instead was put in writing one-liners about life, love and genders meant for the audience to relate to, which to be honest was not necessary. 

What was impressive to me was that, despite the misleading trailer, the film isn’t a triangular love story. The writer doesn’t go down the easy route of adding a romantic angle with Nivetha just because she’s the other female lead in the movie. The relationship between Swecha and Vijay is strictly professional, platonic and significant to the plot. 

Kalyani played to her strengths with the indecisive, mild-mannered youngster. Same goes for Nivetha who convinces the audience that she is the bosslady you would be afraid of if faced with. Sai Dharam Tej is impressive in a role that isn’t exactly his comfort zone. It really looked like he channeled something of his own into Vijay. 

It would be delightful to see him work ahead towards improvement, for which there is still scope. The music besides the introduction song (particularly the whistle tune) really doesn’t stay with you nor does it do much for the movie. All in all, the film falls just a tad bit short of being feel-good movie. Whether it was the fact that the emotions weren’t coming through or if it was because there was too much going on in the two-hour run time, is for you to decide. However, it isn’t a bad watch. If you have the time, go for it.

— Srividya Palaparthi Srividya

[email protected]

@PSrividya53

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Chitralahari

2019, Drama/Romance, 2h 11m

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Chitralahari   photos.

A down-on-his-luck entrepreneur desperately casts around for an investor for his invention.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Original Language: Telugu

Director: Thirumala Kishore

Producer: Mohan Cherukuri , Ravi Shankar Yalamanchili , Naveen Yerneni

Writer: Thirumala Kishore

Release Date (Theaters): Apr 11, 2019  limited

Release Date (Streaming): May 17, 2019

Box Office (Gross USA): $284.7K

Runtime: 2h 11m

Production Co: Mythri Movie Makers

Cast & Crew

Nivetha Pethuraj

Kalyani Priyadarshan

Sai Dharam Tej

Vennela Kishore

Posani Krishna Murali

Thirumala Kishore

Screenwriter

Mohan Cherukuri

Ravi Shankar Yalamanchili

Naveen Yerneni

Karthik Gattamneni

Cinematographer

A. Sreekar Prasad

Film Editing

Satish Koppineedi

Executive Producer

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Chitralahari movie review: Even Sai Dharam Tej’s sincere performance can't save this dull drama

Chitralahari ends up being a film that seemed far more interesting as an idea.

Chitralahari , written and directed by Kishore Tirumala, focuses on the journey of an underdog, Vijay, who has never tasted success in his life. He’s a prodigy in the making; however, he never gets a chance to prove himself, and no matter how hard he tries, the obstacles seem insurmountable each time. Given the context and characters in Chitralahari, you would believe that Kishore Tirumala had the right set of ingredients to make a heartwarming drama about one man’s journey to achieve his goal; however, the drama and the narrative are dull, and Chitralahari ends up being a film that seemed far more interesting as an idea.

Sai Dharam Tej stars as Vijay Krishna, an innovator, who builds products and apps, and he tries his best to pitch his ideas to big companies. When his requests are turned down, he ends up taking up a job at a TV repair service center. However, he still harbours the desire to make it big, thanks to his father’s encouragement. His girlfriend, Lahari (Kalyani Priyadarshan) is his beacon of hope. But she has a problem with people who drink alcohol, and Vijay lies to her about being a teetotaler. When he isn’t working at the service centre, Vijay spends most of his evenings at a bar, where he befriends several others. To complicate his life further, Swetcha (Nivetha Pethuraj) tells her childhood friend Lahari that Vijay is not the right guy for her. The rest of the story is about how Vijay manages to taste success both personally and professionally.

Almost every film that delves into the life of an underdog has a similar story to tell. The story of Vijay Krishna is no different, and his journey is barely inspiring. He gets agitated when people call him a ‘reject piece’, but he is so used to being a failure that nothing seems to break his soul anymore. He breaks down when Lahari begins to question her faith in him. She is quite attached to him. His father (played by Posani Krishna Murali) hasn’t given up on him, and he tries to inspire him every now and then. But these conversations, despite being well-written, don’t lead to anything in the narrative. This is a consistent problem with Chitralahari . It has nuggets of wisdom, but they don’t quite translate into an engaging drama.

Like the title of the film suggests, Chitralahari is a medley of incidents in the lives of the characters. There are moments that are handled quite well throughout the film. For instance, there’s a scene where Posani reprimands his neighbour for prying into his son’s life. In another scene, Vijay tells him that he has lost everything in life, but his father tries to shake him out of the trance. In another scene, Vijay tells Swecha the perils of judging anything in life without seeing it from up close. In moments like these, Kishore Tirumala shines as a writer. It also helps that he has stripped the film’s lead actor, Sai Dharam Tej, of all his machismo, which was so predominant in the actor’s recent films. As an underdog, Tej delivers a sincere performance and makes you empathise with him. However, the film doesn’t quite rise above the boundaries that it creates for itself. It focuses so hard on the small moments that it misses the bigger picture. As a result, the film itself is hardly inspiring.

Kalyani Priyadarshan does a fine job as an innocent, naive girl; however, her romantic track with Sai Dharam Tej is too superficial to make us root for them. Nivetha Pethuraj is good in her role as a headstrong girl who is suspicious about men and their motives. Sunil and Vennela Kishore find themselves in half-baked roles, and it’s anybody’s guess why the film ends on such a flimsy note.

The film is well-intentioned and tries to portray relationships in a realistic manner, but the stakes are low, and Vijay’s journey makes you restless at times. It does have a good message: talent isn’t good enough to achieve success, you need patience and the right attitude too. Maybe this applies for the film too - you need plenty of patience to see where Chitralahari is going and the message it tries to drive home.

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Chitralahari ( U ) 12/Apr/2019 Romance, Drama 2hrs 11mins

Critics: 4 Panel: 0 User: 4

Overall: 4.0 from 8 users

Synopsis/Plot : Down on luck and depressed by constant failures in personal and professional life, Vijay is desperately in search of that single stroke of fortune that could turn his life around. But what if the power to rewrite his destiny lies within?

Director : Kishore Tirumala

Music Director : Devi Sri Prasad

Cast More Cast & Crew (7)

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Critics Review

Story of an underdog.

Chitralahari is the emotional story of an underdog with some decent moments in both the halves. But the slow pace and serious tone of the film may not be liked by a section of the audience who come expecting entertainment. Because if this, the box office prospects of the film will also be tested. Ha... (more)

Source: 123telugu Team, 123telugu.com

Give it a chance this weekend without expectations, you might find the perfect summer watch.

Chitralahari if you don't mind rooting for the underdog umpteenth time on-screen, especially with a relatable story like this. Watch it especially for Sai Dharam Tej, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nivetha Pethuraj and their honest performances. Give it a chance this weekend if you don't mind a sketchy narr... (more)

Source: Neeshita Nyayapati, Times Of India

Mixed Chitram

It begins as a peppy youthful entertainer but ends as a preachy message-oriented movie. Nevertheless, it does have some moments here and there but they don't give an engaging feel. (more)

Source: GreatAndhra, greatandhra.com

A few bright moments

Chitralahari has its moments, but the different thoughts and characters don't blend into a cohesive narrative. The final episode, thankfully, at least goes through a court debate and a warning before pronouncing the reckless Vijay Krishna as a hero. Is that enough? This can't be discussed without sp... (more)

Source: SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO, The Hindu

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