Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava

In Rayalaseema two villages have been killing each other for generations. Veera Raghava Reddy studied abroad and comes back on the news that his father has been killed in the feud. Everyone expects him to take revenge. Instead he puts down the weapon and tries to end it, which means his own side turns against him too. Trivikram Srinivas writes and directs. NTR Jr plays Raghava, Pooja Hegde plays Aravinda and Jagapathi Babu plays Basi Reddy on the other side. The structure of enmity called faction is a real phenomenon in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh and a frequent subject in Telugu cinema; the film takes the form and inverts the celebration of violence inside it. Its best idea is the position of the women. Those left behind by the men killed in the feud are gathered in one village, and the film brings their view inside the narrative, which the usual shape of the genre does not. The action is sparse and hard; the narrative does not present fighting as a solution. Trivikram is known for dialogue and the talk is the strongest thing in it. It did large business and became among the highest earning films of NTR Jr's career. The weaknesses are length and the romantic line; Aravinda never quite settles into the narrative. Who it is for: viewers who follow Telugu cinema and films about cycles of violence. Who it is not for: it is long, the first half is slow, and the message is stated aloud more than once at the end.