Ambajipeta Marriage Band Review

Actor Suhas has become busy with the roles of sidekick, comedian, and villain, but he is also appearing in lead roles now and then. After playing the lead role in Writer Padma Bhushan, Suhas joined hands with Dushyanth for Ambajipeta Marriage Band, of which the trailer looked promising with sensible elements and gained expectations all over. The movie was released today in theaters. Let us see if it lived up to the expectations. Here is he review from the US Premieres.

What Is It About?

Malli (Suhas) is a member of Ambajipeta Marriage Band and he falls in love with Lakshmi (Shivani Nagaram), a rich girl in the same village. Lakshmi’s brother Venkat (Nithin Prasanna) is an arrogant biggie from upper class who loans money with greedy intentions to the villagers. Malli’s twin Padma (Sharanya Pradeep) is a teacher who gets into an argument with Venkat and it quickly escalates into a major fight leading to an unwanted incident. Venkat knows about Malli – Lakshmi’s love affair and things get worse. What happens to Malli and Padma? How did they deal with Venkat? Ambajipeta Marriage Band has answers to these questions.

Performances

Suhas is a natural actor. The man does his job and it is undoubtedly the best performance from him so far, but the known plot and predictable narrative did not help him much. New girl Shivani Nagaram steals the show with her looks and expressions. The sequences between Shivani and Suhas came out well. The chemistry of the lead pair worked well in a few scenes.

Sharanya Pradeep of Fidaa fame gets a meaty full-length role and she did exceptionally well. Pushpa Jagadeesh did fine. Villain actor Nithin Prasanna is ordinary and fails to make any impact. Goparaju Ramana and others did their part.

Technicalities

Ambajipeta Marriage Band has a common plot of upper class vs lower class in a village background, but the formulaic narration and the known pattern of sequences keep it away from becoming a unique ‘band’. The crisp run time of the movie saves it from hitting the lag. The songs in the first half are visually engaging. The background score is just alright. The production quality is good.

Thumbs Up

Suhas and Shivani
Saranya Pradeep

Thumbs Down

Routine Plot
Poor villainy
Formulaic Narration

Analysis

Ambajipeta Marriage Band has a predictable story that is similar to many successful films that deal with rich-poor fallout. Just like those films, Ambajipeta also has the concept of caste discrimination concept but unannounced. Tangled with the love track, Ambajipeta Marriage Band enthralls to a major extent and comes with its lows and highs.

The plot of rich landlords suppressing the poor in a small village and the latter revolting against them when it is time, is a common plot of films in this genre. Ambajipeta Marriage Band is not an exception.

Ambajipeta Marriage Band starts with a quick establishment of characters and goes on a breezy tone. The characters’ introduction itself hints at what’s in store. The romantic track of Suhas and Shivani Nagaram keeps the audience engaged and Pushpa Jagadeesh’s fun here and there keeps the first half watchable. The underlying discrimination takes the front seat leading to an intense – emotional interval block.

The latter half starts on a predictable note and gets flat at a point. The protagonist using his profession for the cause he is fighting for and the sequences thereafter are some of the most overused scenes ever. The elements like a headstrong villain, his honest wife, insulting gestures on the hero and his profession, corrupt police, and a poor but loyal sidekick of the villain, push Ambajipeta into the same monotonous narrative many a time. The villain character is the most standard one. The extensive usage of the ‘L’ word to express the anguish appears unnecessary in a few scenes. Many sequences in the film lack that much needed emotion and aggression at the right time.

The director chose to go for an unconventional approach while concluding hero’s love story and his sister’s role. Though predictable to most extent, the two episodes are unexpected and away from routine. Overall, Ambajipeta Marriage Band is an honest attempt from the director and Suhas’s best work till date.

Bottom-line: Honest Attempt

Rating: 2.75/5