THANDEL MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Sai Pallavi, Prakash Belawadi, Karunakaran, Babloo Prithiveeraj
Director: Chandoo Mondeti
Rating: 3.25/5
Thandel floats in that peculiar space between earnest melodrama and patriotic posturing, where the sea breeze carries both the salt of authenticity and the artificial perfume of commercial compromise. Director Chandoo Mondeti’s latest venture washes ashore with considerable ambition but occasionally finds itself caught in the undertow of its own intentions.
At its heart lies a love story as old as the tides themselves – a fisherman named Raju (Naga Chaitanya) who spends three-quarters of the year at sea, leaving behind his childhood sweetheart Satya (Sai Pallavi) to count the days until his return. The film’s early moments capture the rhythms of coastal life with a documentarian’s eye, finding poetry in the way fishing nets catch the morning light and how the community’s traditions weather modern storms. But when Raju’s fishing expedition accidentally crosses into Pakistani waters, Thandel pivots from romance to geopolitical drama with all the subtlety of a capsizing boat.
Naga Chaitanya, often criticized for his one-note performances, finally finds his sea legs here. His Srikakulam accent feels lived-in rather than learned, and there’s a raw authenticity to his portrayal that suggests he’s finally ready to venture into deeper waters as an actor. Sai Pallavi, meanwhile, continues to prove she’s incapable of a false note, imbuing Satya with the kind of quiet strength that doesn’t need to announce itself with dramatic monologues.
The film’s technical achievements deserve recognition – Devi Sri Prasad’s score swells and recedes like the tide itself, while the cinematography captures both the vastness of the ocean and the intimacy of village life with equal grace. Yet for all its technical prowess, Thandel often finds itself caught between the Scylla of commercial cinema and the Charybdis of social commentary.
The narrative, much like a fishing net, catches both treasures and debris. For every moment of genuine emotion, there’s a scene that feels manufactured for mass appeal. The Pakistan imprisonment subplot, which should serve as the film’s dramatic anchor, instead feels like it’s been borrowed from a different, less interesting movie altogether.
Thandel is a film that’s easier to admire than to love – a technically proficient, occasionally moving drama that never quite manages to bridge the gap between its commercial ambitions and artistic aspirations.