Ghaati Movie Review

Director Krish Jagarlamudi, known for his niche and meaningful films, has been going through a rough phase since the success of ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’, in 2017. At a critical point in his career where he needed to deliver a hit, he teamed up with Anushka Shetty for ‘Ghaati’, a film set in the Eastern Ghats and with the backdrop of cannabis cultivation and smuggling. Tamil actor Vikram Prabhu was cast alongside Anushka in the film. After being in production for an extended period, the film was released in theatres today. Did the director, Krish Jagarlamudi, deliver a successful film? Did Anushka Shetty score another hit after the super successful film, ‘Miss Shetty Mr. Polishetty’, in 2023? Did Anushka shine in a lead role once again? How did Vikram Prabhu perform in his Telugu debut? Let’s explore these questions with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Sheelavathi (Anushka Shetty) and Desi Raju (Vikram Prabhu) are a would-be couple. Sheelavathi works as a bus conductor, while Desi Raju is employed as a lab technician. Their goal is to save enough money before they tie the knot. In the meantime, two cannabis business kingpins, Kundala Naidu (Chaitanya Rao) and Kaastala Naidu (Ravindran Vijay), learn that a new liquid-based cannabis is being produced using a powerful strain called Sheelavathi’. This strain is being supplied by an unknown gang operating in their area of the Western Ghats.

Kundala Naidu eventually discovers that Desi Raju is the leader of this unknown gang responsible for making the liquid-based cannabis. Why would Desi Raju, a seemingly ordinary lab technician, along with Sheelavathi and a few others, become involved in the cannabis business? What is the backstory of Desi Raju and Sheelavathi? What is the role of Ghaatis in the cannabis business ecosystem in the Western Ghats?, Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Anushka Shetty in the role of Sheelavathi is strictly ok. She usually performs very well in tough and ferocious roles but in Ghaati, for some reason, she performed mostly with one or two expressions. Her character takes the centre stage in the second half but even during these portions, she failed to come up with a commendable performance. Tamil hero, Vikram Prabhu, made his Telugu debut with Ghaati and he made his presence felt but there’s nothing much to talk about his performance. Though his Telugu dubbing sounded odd at times, he should be appreciated for the effort he put into dubbing his voice in Telugu.

Chaitanya Rao in the role of Kundala Naidu is the only actor in the film who left a mark with his performance to an extent. He was loud at times for no reason but overall, he delivered a reasonably good performance. Jagapathi Babu in the role of a grey police officer delivered a few laughs here and there but apart from that there’s nothing much to talk about either his role or the performance. Jisshu Sengupta was wasted in an insignificant role. There are quite a few notable actors in the film but none of them, including the lead actors, looked interested in playing their roles. It seems like the poorly written roles and lacklustre screenplay failed to invoke any interest in actors to push themselves to perform.

Technicalities:

Music scored by Nagavelli Vidya Sagar is one of the major drawbacks of the film. None of the songs worked out and the background score failed to lift the proceedings. In an era where the audience is giving utmost importance to the background score, he came up with an uninspiring and outdated score. Editing by Chanakya Reddy Toorupu is below par. Better editing, especially in the second half, at least would have made the film watchable.

Manojh Reddy Katasani’s cinematography is good. He captured the scenic beauty and picturesque locales of the Eastern Ghats with his camera very well. Particularly, his camera work during the initial portions of the film deserves special mention. Production values by ‘First Frame Entertainments’, are adequate. The team should have taken better care of the visual effects. The visual effects used in the film are pretty substandard. Both the writer and the director failed to come up with an engaging and entertaining output. Let’s discuss the writer, Chintakindi Srinivas Rao’s and the director, Krish Jagarlamudi’s, work in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Eastern Ghats & Ghaatis Backdrop

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Predictable Screenplay
2.⁠ ⁠Poor Writing
3.⁠ ⁠Substandard Music
4.⁠ ⁠Uninterested Performances
5.⁠ ⁠Outdated Direction
6.⁠ ⁠Excessive Action Episodes

Analysis:

Director Krish’s films are known for their thought-provoking and meaningful dialogues. The dialogues in his films, Gamyam, Vedam, Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Kanche, and Gautamiputra Satakarni, will be remembered forever. He is known for using philosophy & mythology in a very sensible way with his dialogue writing skills. Now, read the following dialogues – ‘Bayam leni kodi…bajarulo guddu pettindi anta’, ‘You are under arrest andamani vasthe… vadu under rest lo vunnadu’, ‘Magadike ranku mogudu laga vundi’, ‘System pani system ah cheyyali… systematic ga chestham ante system oppukodhu’. The film had multiple outdated, clichéd and poor dialogues like the aforementioned ones. It is not your fault if you start wondering if the film is really directed by Krish, hearing the dialogues. Krish and the writer, Chintakindi Srinivas Rao, failed big time at the writing table itself for the film. Only two dialogues – ‘Pagani matram pattukoni… kala ni vadilesav’ and ‘Katti vesi vunna jenda ni galloki egaresthe repa repaladuthu egurutindi…Manishi kuda anthe…Swechaga vadilisthe dennaina sadisthadu’, had Krish mark in them.

It appeared that the director and the writer, heavily inspired by the Red Sandalwood smuggling backdrop of Pushpa. However, the basic idea of building a world with the Western Ghats setup in the backdrop of Ghaatis, has the potential to come up with an engaging film. The lifestyle of Ghaatis, the backstory behind their relationship with cannabis, their traditions and rituals, were shown in detail and those portions looked interesting to an extent. But, an interesting backdrop alone is not sufficient to make a good film. It needs a gripping screenplay, good music and commendable performances from the actors, to become an engaging film. This is where the film lost track completely and there were hardly any engaging moments throughout the two and a half hours.

The film started on a decent note by introducing the Ghaatis & the details about their occupation, etc. And then, the actual story of a person transitioning from victim to criminal to legend is presented in a lacklustre manner with outdated narration, poor music, underwhelming performances, and weak dialogues. The proceedings in the entire first half run on a very predictable note without a single high moment and a pretty unexciting pre-interval sequence. Going by the pre-interval sequence, we expect an intense action drama involving a seemingly grounded person turning into a rebel, in the second half. But the director and the writer looked clueless and came up with a bland second half with multiple action episodes one after the other. It was shocking to see Krish struggling to come up with a strong purpose for the lead character. Everything looked so forced and it appeared as if like they just wanted to finish the film by filling it with some random sequences.

Overall, “Ghaati” is a disappointing and forgettable film from Krish and his team. The outdated direction, lack of clarity and purpose in execution, poor music, disinterested performances from the actors, and terrible writing, worked against the film. It is indeed shocking to see a director of Krish’s calibre making such a bland movie that does not deserve a watch in a theatre. It is going to be very difficult for the film to even sustain its run until the end of the first weekend.

Bottomline: A Huge Letdown

Rating: 2/5