The Family Star Movie Review

The star sensation Vijay Deverakonda and happening actress Mrunal Thakur joined hands for the Family Star movie. Being a Dil Raju production and the trailer hinting at a complete family entertainer, the Family Star gained expectations. The movie was released today in theaters. Here is the review from one of the US Premieres.

What Is It About?

A middle-class strict-budgeted Govardhan (Vijay Deverakonda) meets Indhu (Mrunal Thakur) when she becomes a tenant at his penthouse. He falls for her but puts her away when he realizes she got close to him for a project work. Govardhan joins an elite company and to his shock, he bumps into Indhu there. How did things go after that? How Indhu handles Govardhan’s hate? All these questions are answered by the Family Man.

Performances

The Family Star has a very weak plot. Vijay Deverakonda is alright in a few scenes and over the top in many. He could have done better if the narrative is good. Surprisingly, Mrunal Thakur’s magic did not work in the Family Star. She just stole the show in her last two films in Telugu, but her character was poorly written and she’s got nothing great to perform here. Vennela Kishore could not bring any laughs. Senior actress Rohini is wasted. Jagapathi Babu gets a brief role, and his presence is not much felt. Other actors like Vasuki, Abhinaya did the needed.

Technicalities

The Family Star has good production values and everything else is a letdown. The background music is not impressive. Two songs are good. The screenplay is sluggish. The dialogues could have been a lot better. There is no emotional connection and it always appears like a series of scenes.

Thumbs Up

Production Values
Two Songs

Thumbs Down

Weak Story
No Emotional Connect
Screenplay

Analysis

With the producer of Shatamanam Bhavathi assuring The Family Star is a perfect family movie from the same production house, the expectations went a little higher than usual. But this Family Star is nowhere close to it and is disappointing. It is the story of a financially disciplined middle-class man who falls in love with a woman but part ways after knowing what she has done to him. The Family Star is completely lost in the narration.

The first half has all the cliched sequences to establish a middle-class family. The ‘budget’ cut is known in any middle-class family, but many episodes are simply over the top. His preaching contradicts his acts in many scenes. The narrative goes flat all along and the conflict between brothers is unconvincing. The ‘Irone vanchala’ fight sequence is good but lengthy. The conflict between the heroine and the hero looks very artificial.

The logic just dies when the person who counts every penny before spending spills a two-year advance salary just to boast he is not poor. The so-called twist before the interval is predictable.

While the whole first half appears like a staged setup, the second half goes to its extreme with just a series of unrealistic and unconvincing sequences. The USA scenes are very artificial and mostly boring. The so-called comedy with Vennela Kishore in the US did not work out. There will be a flood of impractical scenes in the US backdrop. For instance, the fight scene and the cause for it have been used umpteen times so far in Telugu cinema. Even the montage song has overused gestures and scenes. The ‘prostitution’ scene is tiresome and unwanted. The narrative goes clueless and finally, the clarification on the actual conflict between the lead couple makes no sense. The climax pulls down whatever is left with completely ineffective storytelling.

The Family Star has many flaws. The man who is so careful in everything falls for a girl whom he does not know anything about. Most of the conflicts in any middle-class family get sorted when they talk, but the conflict between this ‘peddodu and chinnodu’ takes months and leaves the former a drunkard. The chemistry between the lead pair did not work. Not just the template, but many sequences of the Family Star appear like that of Geetha Govindam, but unfortunately, it fails to recreate the magic.

Overall, barring the performances of a few cast members and production values, there is nothing that this Family Star offers. The outdated story, lack of emotional connection, and sluggish screenplay become a bigger burden than a heavy EMI for the Family Star.

Bottom Line: Below Par

Rating: 2/5