Mahendragiri Varahi Review

Sumanth is back with a devotional thriller, Mahendragiri Varahi. The movie is directed by Santosh Jagarlapudi who previously gave a decent success to Sumanth with Subrahmanyapuram many years ago. Mahendragiri Varahi was delayed for quite some time and finally got released.

What is the Movie About?

For the Rajas’ dynasty in Mahendragiri, there is a curse on the male descendants. No male in the dynasty will survive beyond 33 Janma Thidhis. Siddharth (Sumanth) is a YouTuber who exposed Blind beliefs and he is dragged into Mahendragiri unexpectedly. What happens next in Mahendragiri and the curse forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Sumanth is neat and fine as YouTuber Siddharth. It appears like a tailor-made role for him and he sleep walked through such roles throughout his career in similar roles and it is also one such role again.

Siddhu Jonnalagadda is wasted in a cameo which is not so impactful. Somehow, the DJ Tillu mark still lingers in his expressions and body language. We do not know if we can not unsee that or he is struggling to undo that.

Aishwarya Rajesh is also seen in a little role and she is okay in a character which offers very little to perform. Brahmanandham and Vennela Kishore are mixed bag in the film. There are many other artists in the film and they are okay in whatever they got.

Technicalities:

Santosh Jagarlapudi has directed and written Mahendragiri Varahi. As a writer, many of his choices are questionable. Except for a devotional song in the Climax, there are no songs in the film. Anup Rubens’ Background is impactful in sync with the mood and tone of the film. If there are better scenes written, the BGM would have worked wonders. The Cinematography carries a dated vibe. Editing could have been better.

Positives:

Anup Rubens’ BGM

Negatives:

Flat Without Any Thrills
Boring Scenes
Questionable Conflict Choices
Wasted Cameos
Laughable Performance of a Key Character

Analysis:

Mahendragiri Varahi starts with the backdrop of the curse that runs on the Rajas Family of Mahendragiri. Once that back story is revealed, we get a series of deaths happening due to that curse and the family trying to save themselves somehow. This runs for the entire first half. The problem is that the scenes just keep repeating flatly without any excitement. Even though, we see the artifacts of the goddess at many places and CG Avatars, the devotional part still feels not explored. However, we neither connect nor disconnect to the proceedings at that point.

The investigation starts seriously in the second half and proceeds towards the actual cause of curse. Again the flashback does not excite much and gives a redundant feeling.

After the flashback, the director reaches the point where he should give a logical ending to the curse sage. At this juncture, the director took an easy route and the choices he made are questionable. The devotional element takes a backseat and the movie enters a thriller zone.

And once that is done, the director suddenly remembers there is no closure to the devotional thread and brought it back. Again it feels very artificial. The two cameos that were supposed to infuse some energy into the proceedings were wasted. Siddhu Jonnalagadda opens the films and there is no star vibe around him. Any character artist doing that role is fine and Siddhu is letdown by poor writing. Aishwarya Rajesh also suffers the same problem. The role does not have much substance even though she brings in a twist.

With a decent subject, Mahendragiri Varahi ends up as a disappointing fare without any excitement.

Bottomline: Lacks Thrill And Devotion

Rating: 2/5