Movie: Middle Class Melodies
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Bhavya Creations
Cast: Anand Deverakonda, Varsha Bollamma, Tharun Bhascker, and others
Story, dialogue: Janardhan Pasumarthi
Music: Sweekar Agasthi
Cinematography: Sunny Kurapati
Editor: Raviteja Girijala
Producer: V Ananda Prasad
Directed by: Vinod Anantoju
Release date: November 20, 2020
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
This month we have witnessed several direct digital releases on OTT platforms. The latest addition is “Middle Class Melodies”, produced by Bhavya Creations.
Let’s find out its merits and demerits.
Story:
Raghava (Anand Deverakonda) aspires to start a tiffin center in Guntur city. His father is much against the idea. But, he reluctantly agrees to provide the money by selling off their agricultural land.
Besides achieving his dream, Raghava also needs to marry Sandhya (Varsha Bollamma), with whom he has been in love for many years.
What problems will he face along the way?
Artistes’ Performances:
Non-lead actors dominating the show with their natural performances is the main highlight of this movie.
Goparaju Ramana as Anand Deverakonda’s father steals the show. His dialogue delivery and body language evoke laughs.
The middle-class guy character is suited to Anand Deverakonda. He has tried hard to get the Guntur dialect right. Varsha Bollamma is quite impressive and shares good chemistry with Anand on the screen.
Surabhi Prabhavathi in the role of Anand's mother and Chaitanya as his friend also shine.
Technical Excellence:
Made on a modest budget, it has good visuals. Shot mostly in and around the Guntur region, the film gets the look and feel of the small-town.
Editing should have been crisper. Dialogue writing is quite good.
Highlights:
Performances of side-characters
The natural setting of Guntur rural area
Dialogues
Drawback:
Sluggish pace
Middle portion
Analysis
Lately, Bollywood is stepping out of the metros and foreign cities to explore the stories of smaller cities and towns. “Bareilly Ki Barfi”, “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”, and “Masaan” are the best examples.
Telugu cinema is also following the same path as we have seen recently in “Kanchara Palem”, “Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya”, etc.
New director Vinod’s “Middle Class Melodies” featuring Anand Deverakonda and Varsha Bollamma is set in the countryside of Guntur. The movie portrays the unhurried lifestyle of this region, the dialect, the people’s simple aspirations, and petty issues.
The story is simple and wafer-thin. The screenplay is uncomplicated. The director has focussed on capturing the life of Guntur rural. The dialogue, the setting, and the performances are natural. There is no unnecessary glossiness, either.
The first half of the film focuses on the hero trying to open a tiffin center in Guntur and humor is created with the conflict between hero and father. There are many charming sequences here. But as the film progresses, the grip peters away.
To add more drama, the character of Tharun Bhaskar is introduced in the end but it doesn’t serve much purpose. The love story between the hero’s friend and his girlfriend also gets dragged on.
The situations created out of misunderstanding arisen between the lead pair lack novelty. The romantic thread on the lead pair is also not fully developed. Some scenes get repetitive.
The conflict is too plain to get involved. Still, it manages to hold the attention for the most part as everything knits well in the end.
To sum up, “Middle Class Melodies” hits the middle ground, it starts off well, loses track along the way, but ends as a decent entertainer. It will appeal to those who like to watch unhurried stories, which capture the life of a region.
Bottom-line: Simple Story
