Zombie reddy movie review and rating

Zombie reddy movie review and rating

Child artist turned actor Teja Sajja is making his debut as male lead with Zombie Reddy which is hitting the big screens today. Zombie Reddy is billed to be the first Telugu film based on zombies and it has experimental filmmaker Prasanth Varma at the helm. Here is our review of the film.

 

Story:

The prime minister of India Narendra Modi announces a nation-wide lockdown in order to curb the spread of Covid-19. Correspondingly, relevant medical teams starts trials for development of Covid-19 vaccine. Amidst all this high drama, Teja Sajja, Daksha Nagarkar, and Kireeti leave to Kurnool to attend the wedding of their good friend, RJ Hemanth. By the time they reach Kurnool, Covid-19 vaccination drive goes horribly wrong and those who are vaccinated start turning into zombies. Teja, Daksha, Kireeti, Anandhi, and RJ Hemanth are now forced to find their way through a zombie apocalypse. The rest of the story unveils their efforts to find the solution to the unprecedented problem.

What about on-screen performances?

Teja Sajja who starred in multiple films as a child artist picked a unique and experimental subject for his debut film as male lead and his grit is to appreciated. He looks very settled in this challenging role and never goes overboard. His dialogue delivery is very good. Bold beauty Daksha Nagarkar plays a tomboy and she does justice to the role but she has very limited screen time in the film. Nandini and Get-up Sreenu who play important roles in the film put up an excellent performance. Especially Get-up Sreenu takes the comedy blocks in the second half to a whole new level with his rib-tickling performance. Most of the remaining star cast play comical roles and they deliver what is expected of them.

What about off-screen talents?

The fundamental aspect of Zombie Reddy which is promoted as the first Telugu film based on zombies is getting the visual presentation right. The technical team does succeed in creating the right atmosphere. Make-up and costumes for zombies in the film look very authentic. Anith’s cinematography is of top quality. He captures the spooky zombie visuals with technical finesse. The background score goes with the theme of the proceedings and keeps the audience engaged.

The director Prasanth Varma picks the concept of zombies for this film and he extracts the best possible output from his technical team. The way he blends two distinctive topics like zombies and Rayalaseema factionism is very good. But he should have done a better job with the screenplay in the first half. Many scenes look repetitive and offer very little novelty. However, Prasanth hits top gear in the second half as the comedy and elevation scenes penned by him work perfectly well. He shows his ability to churn out a commercial comedy caper with a peculiar plot. Get-up Sreenu’s hilarious performance, the concept of zombies, and action sequences make the second half a whole lot gripping when compared to the opening half. The climax is not conceived properly though. A few people might feel that the ending is not logically fitting.

Positive:

Interval episode

Get-up Sreenu – Annapurnamma comedy scenes

Action blocks featuring zombies

Engaging second half

Performance of the lead cast

Verdict:

Teja Sajja and Prasanth Varma’s Zombie Reddy banks mainly on the entertaining and engaging second half. The lack of entertainment quotient in the first half is compensated with interesting and exciting sequences in the second half. This film does offer a new experience to Telugu audience.

Rating: 3/5