Psych Siddhartha, produced by Shree Nandu and Shyam Sunder Reddy Thudi, is backed by Suresh Productions. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.
Plot:
Siddhartha (Shree Nandu) is devastated after his girlfriend Trisha (Priyanka Rebekah Srinivas) cheats on him with their partner Mansoor. The Trisha-Mansoor duo has defrauded him of Rs 3 Cr. Siddhartha's business dreams collapse overnight, and he leads a depressed life in a slum, where his unlikely bond with a single mom (Yamini Bhaskar, as Sravya) holds potential.
Post-Mortem:
The story of Psych Siddhartha being wafer-thin is a forgivable demerit. What sets apart the New Year Day release is its juvenile belief that the male lead's mood has to be singular throughout the length of the film because life can't be anything more than unidimensional for a loser. It's one thing to write a shallow protagonist. This film has an overtalking, perennially flustered, shallow lead whose verbal diarrhoea at first represents the frustrations of the rootless Gen Z kid but slowly becomes a self-indulgent cinematic character. By and by, his hyperventilation becomes pointless because even his biggest insults directed at his enemy doesn't affect the latter much.
The screenplay becomes repetitive, with Siddhartha's inner life eluding the audience's understanding. In too many scenes, he is either shouting at others or is indulging in aimless arguments with his friend Revanth. While unhinged bantering with one's best buddy is a legit coping mechanism, this film reduces Revanth to a footnote with no personality of his own. The character is inspired by Rahul Ramakrishna's friend character in Arjun Reddy, but minus the assuring demeanour and warm presence.
The film's obsession with what it believes is whacky comedy comes to the fore in the form of a nocturnal quirk: Siddhartha and Revanth end up walking back to their homes in a half-naked state. This is over-stretched in an irritating way. Breathless arguments/conversations between characters are sometimes intercut by quick flashbacks. While this is engaging at first, after a point, it becomes tedious.
What is the probability of a domestic abuse victim trusting a wayward, undisciplined, messy young male who is leading a miserable, reckless life in the neighbourhood? This film believes that it's very, very high. As high as most filmmakers in Tollywood floundering with fundamentals.
There is not much happening on the story front. The moment the male lead's single-mom neighbour sees him in a half-naked avatar and doesn't instinctively rush back into her home, you know where the story is headed.
Closing Remarks:
Psych Siddhartha tries to capture the raw, unhinged energy of cult dramas like Arjun Reddy, but fails to ground its protagonist in anything resembling reality. Despite a promising premise involving betrayal and financial ruin, the film drowns in its own noise.
