Brochevarevarura

Vivek Athreya's 2019 Telugu film is notable for a structure that ties two separate strands together. Three underachieving students befriend Mitra from another class and devise a plan to help her; the plan falls unexpectedly into a kidnapping and a murder investigation. The film begins as comedy and turns into thriller, carrying both tones without muddling them. Athreya's screenplay does not underestimate the audience when it explains, in the second half, how the two stories intersect; the connections were laid in advance and are visible on a rewatch. Sree Vishnu and Nivetha Thomas play with restraint while the comedy runs through Priyadarshi and Rahul Ramakrishna. It is one of the examples showing that low-budget Telugu productions can stand out on writing. Who it's for: viewers who like the independent vein of Telugu cinema and tightly written genre films. Who it's not for: anyone arriving expecting a single genre, or who will find the student comedy tone of the first half childish.