Ambajipeta Marriage Band Movie Review: Old wine in Old glass

Ambajipeta Marriage Band Movie Review and Rating

Cast: Suhas, Shivani Nagaram, Goparaju Ramana, Sharanya Pradeep, Nithin Prasanna, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Swarnakanth

Crew:
Music Director: Shekar Chandra
Cinematographer: Wajid Baig
Editor: Kodati Pavan Kalyan
Producers: Dheeraj Mogilineni, Venkat Reddy
Writer & Director: Dushyanth Katikaneni

Ambajipeta Marriage Band Movie Rating: 2/5

Suhas has started his career as a YouTube content creator and grew into a reliable actor. He is now looking to grow into a reliable lead actor who is going to deliver content oriented films. After Writer Padmabhushan, he is coming up with a rural film like Color Photo, that established him as a lead actor. The movie is titled as Ambajipeta Marriage Band and Dushyanth Katikaneni has debuted as writer and director with this film. The movie released on 2nd February. Let’s talk about this rural drama at length.

Plot:
In a village, Ambajipeta, a barber’s son Malli(Suhas) falls in love with Lakshmi(Shivani Nagaram). Lakshmi belongs to higher caste family headed by her brother Venkata Babu(Nithin Prasanna). She fears that their marriage will be a problem but Malli doesn’t heed to her objections and asks her to go with the flow. Malli’s sister Padma(Sharanya Pradeep) becomes a government school teacher after being very good in studies. Her father takes help of Venkat for getting her positioned in the same village.

Suhas sports two get-ups in the film Ambajipeta Marriage Band
Suhas sports two get-ups in the film Ambajipeta Marriage Band

Venkat asks Padma to help him in completing accounts every week on Sunday. She does that out of courtesy. But villagers spread rumors about a illegitimate relationship between them and even draw objectionable drawings of her on school walls. She takes them all in her stride and work for the betterment of school. Venkat says that he likes Padma but to share bed or even to be his friend, she needs to belong to same caste. Venkat gets to know that Malli and Lakshmi are in love. What happens next? Watch Ambajipeta Marriage Band to know more.

Analysis:
Suhas is a reliable actor and can connect with audiences with his performance. But he shouldn’t ham and keep it as simple as he can. Because in this movie, he tried to ham in romantic portions and that did dilute the impact that these scenes are designed to create. While we can understand what he is going for, it doesn’t seem to fit his body language as much as underplaying suits. It is appreciable to see him trying something different from his body language all he needs is some fine tuning. Shivani Nagaram has expressive eyes and she did her portions well.

Movie belongs to Sharanya Pradeep and she did well. At occasions, she had to shout rather than showcase her anger in eyes but in majority of scenes she delivered what is necessary for scenes. Her presence is apt as twin to Suhas as well. Nithin Prasanna and Jagadeesh Pratap did not deliver the performances needed for this story to grip even more. Movie has elements that we have seen in films like Mouna Poratam, Asuran, Subramaniapuram and several others.

Suhas and Shivani from Ambajipeta Marriage Band
Suhas and Shivani from Ambajipeta Marriage Band

Underwhelming factor lies in the writing. As the story is not very new, we needed the movie to have enough moments that connect us with the characters. Romantic portions harm the run of the story as it does not yield to the overall arc of the film. We needed more scenes that talk about the relationship that villagers and this family or these two twins have. Because movie’s central theme resembles to old film like Mana Ooru Pandavulu, we need fresh perspective and scenes that talk about this point in a new way.

The writing feels too generic and characters don’t care about huge issues and push them under the carpet at every possible juncture. Khaidi kind of film worked big time with some what similar problems coming up because it had a strong reaction to the issues. Movie tries hard to deliver within the parameters it has drawn for itself. And it falls under the same pressure. Hence, while some scenes deliver and main lead performances are good, movie doesn’t become a must watch.

Positives:
Sharanya Pradeep performance
Suhas performance
Few scenes

Negatives:
Writing is too generic
Gets too predictable
Weak Music and BGM
Screenplay is lethargic

Ambajipeta Marriage Band Movie Bottom-line: Too Predictable

Writer Sarath Chandra wants to press criminal charges on Koratala Siva