Amigos (2023) Telugu Movie Review

Starring: Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Ashika Ranganath, Brahmaji, Sapthagiri & Others

Director: Rajendra Reddy

Producers: Y. Ravi Shankar, Naveen Yerneni

Music Director: Ghibran

Cinematography: S. Soundar Rajan

Editor: Tammiraju

After scoring his biggest hit, Nandamuri Kalyan Ram is back with another concept-oriented film titled Amigos. As Kalyan Ram is playing a triple role, there is a good buzz around the film. Directed by debutant Rajendra Reddy and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film has hit the screens today. So let’s see how it is.

Story: Siddharth (Kalyan Ram) who lives in Hyderabad, is fascinated by the concept of doppelgangers (lookalikes). He keeps searching for his lookalikes, and much to his surprise, he finds not one but two of them (Manjunath Hegde & Michael). Soon the three meet and Siddharth takes the help of the other two to make Ishika (Ashika Ranganath) fall for him. When everything is going well, Siddharth and Manjunath get to know the unknown side of Michael, which shocks them. Who is this Michael? What is his backstory? What did Siddharth and Manjunath do after knowing about Michael? The film has the answers.

Plus Points: From start to finish it is all Kalyan Ram’s show. Kalyan Ram has got a lion’s share of the screen time as he is seen almost in every frame of the film. It isn’t easy to play a triple role but Kalyan Ram has done the job effortlessly. It is important that an actor has to show variations while playing roles of this sort, and Kalyan Ram’s act was nothing short of brilliance. Amigos is undoubtedly one of the best performances by Kalyan Ram. The actor is ruthless as Michael, innocent as Manjunath, and shows subtleness as Siddharth.

The film has a few interesting moments and the proceedings are a bit fast in the second half. A tense atmosphere is nicely created between the antagonist and the protagonist’s family. Scenes that come in this regard are well-knitted and fairly engaging.

The placement of Enno Ratrulosthayi song is good and brings in much-required relief in this seriously driven action drama. Ashika Ranganath makes a decent debut in Tollywood. She looked gorgeous and performed well in her limited role. Brahmaji ably supported Kalyan Ram and he evokes a few laughs. Jaya Prakash is decent.

Minus Points: The concept of doppelgangers itself is very interesting but the makers didn’t come up with an engaging screenplay More drama could have been created around the film’s core point to elevate the proceedings. But that didn’t happen with Amigos.

There are interesting moments here and there but they are again short-lived. The film’s narrative is middling throughout and the entire first half is boring with slow pacing. The concept is introduced fairly but then the graph dips suddenly and picks up only in the second half. There isn’t anything exciting that happens in the first hour and the interval bang is weak.

There aren’t any twists and turns and the movie becomes predictable after a point in time. The way the NIA is showcased is pretty bad and many times they keep failing to catch hold of a dreadful criminal. This kind of film needs sharp editing and an effective background score but sadly these two aspects were not on the expected lines.

Technical Aspects: It is surprising to see this kind of inferior work from Ghibran. More care should have been taken regarding the background score to enhance the impact. The cinematography by Soundar Rajan is good and so is the case with production values. The makers didn’t compromise on the quality.

The editing could have been far better and the entire first half needed some heavy corrections. Coming to the debutant director, Rajendra Reddy, he has done an okayish job with the film. He was successful in picking up a fascinating concept and his casting was also perfect. But the issues in writing played a spoilsport. What otherwise could have been a very good thriller ended up being just an okay flick due to the substandard screenplay.

Verdict: On the whole, Amigos works to an extent and highly benefits from the excellent performance of Kalyan Ram. Ashika, Brahmaji, and others justified their roles. The film actually had more scope but it wasn’t utilized to the full extent. The film has a decent second half and a below-par first half. Hence Amigos ends up being a just okay watch this weekend.

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