Akhanda

Boyapati Srinu's 2021 Telugu film follows twin brothers separated at birth: one a local hero, the other a reclusive devotee of Shiva. When the family is endangered the second brother appears. The film takes Boyapati Srinu's known manner to its peak: slow-motion entrances, heavy music and physically impossible fights. Both of Nandamuri Balakrishna's roles are exaggerated in equal measure. Illegal uranium mining sits behind the story, adding an environmental argument; but that argument becomes the justification for the violence. The religious imagery is dense. Who it's for: viewers who like Telugu commercial action and Balakrishna's films. Who it's not for: anyone wanting realism, or troubled by religious imagery tied to action.