Ustaad Telugu Movie Review: Sri Simha Koduri, the younger son of Keeravani, made his debut as a hero with the promising movie ‘Matthuvadalara’. But his next movie, ‘Beware of Thieves… Bhag Sale’, was a huge disappointment. Now he has come up with ‘Ustaad’. The trailer of the movie raised some hopes that it would be better than Simha’s previous movies. Let’s see if the movie really meets those expectations.
‘Ustad’ is the story of Surya (Sri Simha), a middle-class boy who loses his father at a young age and is raised by his loving mother (Anu Haasan). Surya has some flaws from childhood. He is scared of heights, he gets angry easily, and he lacks focus. His life changes when he buys a secondhand bike that he likes. He develops an emotional bond with the bike, as if it were a living being. He also meets and falls in love with a girl named Meghna (Kavya Kalyan Ram) because of the bike. But when things seem to be going well, Surya faces challenges in his career and love life. The rest of the story is how he overcomes them.
Ustaad Telugu Movie Review
A movie called ‘Nenu Student Sir’ was released recently. The hero is obsessed with an iPhone. He buys a phone and names it Buchibabu, and talks to it as if it were a person. The whole thing was very silly and the audience rejected the movie. Now in ‘Ustaad’, the hero has a similar relationship with his bike. Moreover, the whole movie is driven by this bike emotion. But unlike ‘Nenu Student Sir’, the director Phanideep has managed to make the audience feel the hero-bike emotion in some places. The concept he chose for ‘Ustaad’ works well in some scenes. But the biggest drawback of this movie is the slow pace. The story lacks clarity and speed. If these were there, ‘Ustaad’ could have been a good feel-good movie. It feels like we have watched an average movie.
‘Ustaad’ is about a boy who has no clarity about life, who is afraid of small things, who gets irritated, and who becomes a winner by overcoming his weaknesses. Such stories of failure to success can easily connect with the audience if they can empathize with the hero’s character. The director Phanideep has made a good attempt in that direction in ‘Ustaad’. He has tried to tell the story of a common man honestly. Another plus point for this movie is the feel-good factor. The characters and their conversations feel natural and realistic. It feels like we are watching people like us on the screen. The hero, his mother, his girlfriend, her father, all the main characters are relatable. Their behavior and conversations are similar to what we see in real life. Otherwise, some movies try to be spontaneous but end up being dramatic. The audience will suffer if there is no story progression.
‘Ustaad’ takes a long time to take off. The story drags on until the heroine enters the scene. The love story is not very special, but some scenes are heartwarming. The scene where the hero overcomes his fear of heights and decides to become a pilot is one of the highlights of the movie. The scene was shot well within budget constraints. The Aaraku episode after this has its ups and downs. Overall, the first half is lukewarm. There is not much movement in the story till the interval. There are some twists and turns in the second half. The drama is mild in the backdrop of the hero’s career and love challenges. The confrontation between the hero and the heroine’s father is an impressive scene. It shows how a girl’s father thinks and how a hot-headed boy talks naturally. From here, the challenges for the hero increase, and he finally overcomes them and becomes a winner. The director has shown this sequence well. The emotions are high in the last 40 minutes. The bike mechanic Brahmam episode in between is also impressive.
‘Ustaad’ has a pleasing technical aspect. Akiva’s songs have a good feel to them. Most of the movie has bit songs that enhance the mood of the film. The background music is also impressive. Pawan Kumar’s camera work is good. He has shot the aviation related scenes well, despite the budget constraints. Writer-cum-director Phanideep has a good subject. He has chosen a good story. But he needs to work on the flow of the story. His narration is very slow and some scenes are unnecessary. If he had improved the script and increased the pace, he could have achieved better results as a director.
Ustaad Telugu Movie Review Final verdict: Ustad has some substance, but it requires patience.
