Epic Movie Review

90’s – A Middle-Class Biopic is the most-watched Telugu web series. The way the series handled fun and middle-class emotions instantly connected with audiences and made director Aditya Hasan one of the most sought-after young directors in Telugu film history. After considering a few options, he decided to do a follow-up to the ‘90s’, as his first feature film and titled it ‘Epic’. Sithara Entertainments and Fortune Four Cinemas bankrolled the project. The blockbuster pair, Anand Deverakonda, and Vaishnavi Chaitanya, played the lead roles in the film while Hesham Abdul Wahab scored the music. The film generated instant hype when it was announced. After being in the making for quite some time, the film finally released in theatres today. Did Aditya Hasan, make a successful feature film debut with ‘EPIC? Did Anand Deverakonda, and Vaishnavi Chaitanya, score yet another blockbuster in their combination after the humongous success of ‘Baby’? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

What happens when the mischievous and funny, Madham Aditya, from the ’90s – A Middle-Class Biopic’, turns into a naive and innocent adult and wants to become a feature film director? After finishing graduation, Aditya(Anand Deverakonda), aims to become a director but his parents send him to the UK to do post-graduation. During the first day at college, he meets Kadali(Vaishnavi Chaitanya), gets close and ends up spending the whole day with each other and decides to stay in the same place. How did the romance blossom between the two? What were the conditions put by Kadali before getting physically intimate with Aditya? What is Kadali’s backstory? How did the conditions put by Kadali, affect their relationship? Why did they end up breaking up eventually? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya did their roles within their own limitations. The team may have chosen them because of the ‘Blockbuster Baby Combination’ tag but it did not work as expected. A fresh pair of relatively unknown young actors should have been a better choice to play the roles of Aditya and Kadali.

Sivaji and Vasuki Anand played the roles of the father and mother since it’s a continuation of the 90s. Both of them did their roles well. Sivaji with his impeccable comedy timing and effortless ease in showcasing subtle emotions, entertained and made the audience emotional whenever he appeared on screen. Kalyan Shankar’s comedy timing was good but his track was a misfit in the film. Gavireddy Srinivas generated a few laughs here and there.

Technicalities:

Hesham Abdul Wahab’s background score fit the mood of the film well. He came up with one good song and the rest of the songs should have been better. A romantic drama film like EPIC, deserves better songs. Navin Nooli’s editing was alright in the first half but his work should have been much better in the second half. Azeem Mohammad’s cinematography was alright. There’s nothing extraordinary about his work for the film in particular.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Dialogue Writing
2.⁠ ⁠Situational Humour In First Half

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Inconsistent Narration
3.⁠ ⁠Lack of Dramatisation
4.⁠ ⁠Overreliance on ‘Reality’

Analysis:

Aditya Hasan took the incidents that occurred in his personal life to develop the story of ‘EPIC’ and wanted to narrate the film as realistically as possible. While watching the film it makes us feel that everything we are watching on screen may have indeed happened in his life. During the first half of the film, we get to see a poster on the wall of Aditya and Kadali’s room with a caption – ‘Moments, Memories, Pain & Happiness’. It is exactly what Aditya tried to narrate through EPIC in two parts(i.e. First Semester and a possible follow-up movie). He started the film with a few ‘moments’, made a few ‘memories’ for the lead pair and ended the film with ‘pain’, in the first part. Most likely, he will start the second part with ‘pain’ and then the happiness. During the process of creating moments, memories and pain, Aditya succeeded fairly in the first half and his intent to keep things as close to ‘realistic events’ as possible, worked against the film in the second half.

A slice-of-life film works well with the audience only when it has a lot of feel-good moments and some dramatisation of real-life happenings. Director Sekhar Kammula, during his initial days used to make such slice-of-life films in a very heartwarming way. His films used to entertain and also make us relate to the characters, because he used to sugarcoat and create feel-good ‘moments’ throughout. Aditya Hasan for his first feature film, took a similar approach and tried to tell a slice-of-life film using real-life happenings from his life. This approach may have worked had he made it as a web series but audiences expect a certain format in feature films. There’s nothing wrong with telling a ‘personal’ story in a feature film, but it should be dramatised to let the audience connect with the characters and their pain. During the entire second half, it felt as if we were watching an unadulterated biographical drama or a documentary. People in real life may change their behaviour abruptly but you can’t translate the same onto the screen in a film without adding some cinematic drama. This is where a story with good potential ended up becoming a wasted opportunity.

The film starts on a good note, picked up the pace once Aditya reaches the UK. There were a few moments that the young audience is likely to relate to. The situational-driven fun moments also worked well in the first half. Barring the out-of-sync track of Kalyan Shankar, there were no major complaints in the first half. ‘Tappu chesthe bayapadali….nachhindi cheyyadaniki bayam enduku’, ‘Vallani(parents) marchalenu… ala ani vadulukolenu’, ‘Adagakundane anni istharu
Kani em kavali ani adagaru’ – these are a few dialogues in the film and each of them shows how mature Aditya Hasan’s writing is. He should also be appreciated for dealing with the physical intimacy part in a very aesthetic manner. He chose not to show the lovemaking visuals, instead, he used the lead pair’s silhouettes on screen while they were making love.

Kalyan Shankar’s comedy track was a complete misfit in the film. In a realistic romantic drama, his track which was aimed at attracting youth and a mass audience, felt unnecessary. It seems that, to add a commercial touch to the film, the director was asked to add the so-called ‘mass comedy’ but all those attempts worked against the film. In particular, the references to Vijay Deverakonda, Trivikram and Naga Vamsi. It’s hard to believe a sensible writer and director like Aditya Hasan wrote such tracks to generate comedy. Also, it’s high time that film directors stopped sugarcoating the ‘master’s degree’ life in the USA, the UK, etc. How many students who go to the USA and the UK do part-time jobs during their stay and clear their entire master’s degree study loan? It was shown as if it’s easy for everyone to find multiple part-time jobs, earn money and clear the student loan.

Overall, EPIC has its share of positives but they were few and far between. After a promising first half, the film gets into a monotonous zone and gets tedious to sit through. The overreliance on telling a personal story as it happened without adding enough drama, worked against the film. You may give it a try for some sensible writing and a few good moments in the first half but it definitely is not what the audience expected from Aditya Hasan’s debut feature film.

Bottom Line – Epic ‘Struggles’

Rating – 2.25/5

Tags Epic