Review of movie Srinivasa Kalyanam

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Rating:3/5

‘Srinivasa Kalyanam’ is the kind of film that waxes eloquent right from the first frame to last on how marriages are made in heaven and the traditional ceremonies that constitute a wedding are oh so important. So it is particularly ironic and funny, how the filmmakers manage to get the key ceremony of jeelakarra bellam during the wedding wrong. 

Vasu (Nithiin) hails from a close-knit joint family and is the kind who likes to call home at the beginning and end of the day to talk to his grandmother and rest of the family. Sri (Raashi Khanna) hails from a family that’s the polar opposite, consisting of a business magnate father (Prakash Raj), who believes the only thing that deserves his time is his work, an elder sister going through divorce because she’s exactly like her father and a mother wanting for attention and love. 

When the two fall in love and decide to get married (just like that), the super-idealistic film makes it clear right from the beginning that the focus will solely be on the importance of wedding ceremonies and traditional family values, practicality be damned! While another recent release ‘Happy Wedding’ dealt with the concept of weddings and marriage too, it at least tried to address the apprehensions millennials might face when they decide to take the next step. In ‘Srinivasa Kalyanam’, both Vasu and Sri are blissfully happy to be taking such a huge step in such a short time and the only ‘villain’ in the tale is Sri’s father who doesn’t have time to go wedding shopping in the middle of the afternoon on a work day. 

While ‘Srinivasa Kalyanam’ might have its intentions right, what with wanting to help ‘kids these days’ understand the importance of sampradayam, the education system in India has more than proved that lecturing is definitely not an effective way of teaching a lesson. Despite the film having its moments of charm that bring a smile on your face, what with the way the traditional ceremonies are carried out and the families coming together to make the wedding happen in 15 days, all that preaching just seems too much and repetitive not too far into the film. The film also takes the super cliché route by the end with those wanting to make money, cheat on their wife, facing commitment phobia and looking for a divorce all realising the error of their ways. 

The way Vidyu Raman’s character Bujji is handled in the film is super problematic. In a time when there’s so much discussion about body positivity and fat shaming, ‘Srinivasa Kalyanam’ blissfully chooses the route of shaming her for love of food and her size. Tollywood, maybe it’s time you begin choosing jokes that are actually funny, because picking on people for their body type does not a joke make. And for once, can we just have a plus size person in a film, who is casted because they’re a good actor, not be called fat?

Despite consisting of a stupendous cast, featuring names like Prakash Raj, Jaya Prada, Naresh, Amani and Rajendra Prasad, all the characters just seem wasted in a film that seems to turn them into caricatures. Nandita Swetha as Paddu, Vasu’s cousin, too is wasted in the film as she seems to solely exist just to; either moon after her bava or to work as a catalyst to make him realise something he should’ve realised early on in the first place. Nithiin and Raashi Khanna do their best to make you believe they’re this couple so in love, stealing delightful moments together before their shotgun wedding, but the chemistry just falls flat at times. No surprise, seeing as how they go right from falling in love to getting married, no time for dating in sanskari set-ups y’all.