Director Viplav's Telugu movie "Hithudu" ("Hitudu"), starring Jagapathi Babu and Meera Nandan, has released in theatres today, 11 December, and received mixed reviews and average ratings from critics.
"Hithudu" is romantic entertainer film written and directed by Viplav and produced by KSV Films. Anooj Ram, Benarjee, and CVL Narasimha Rao appear in the supporting cast of the film.
The story of "Hithudu" is about former Maoist Sitaram (Jagapathi Babu), who sets up a school to encourage education in backward village Paderu. He takes up the responsibility of educating Abhilasha (Meera Nndan), who is a brilliant student. But her parents decide to get her married to a rich man. What happens next forms the crux of the story.
Critics say "Hithudu" is a message-oriented film, which has an interesting story with sensible dialogues. But the director has failed to execute it in an engaging and entertaining way. The movie has good performances by the lead actors and average production values. It has been rated an average of 1.62 out of 5 stars. Continue to read critics' verdict in "Hithudu" movie review roundup:
While the film is a reasonable drama content-wise, the fact is "Hitudu" lacks the visual value. As subjects go, this one stands out for the measured way in which the story is narrated. Jagapathi gives a measured and restrained performance. He surely has a knack for emoting in a believable way, if not in a slice-of-life way.
There is always a question as to whether a good point is enough for a film to be considered as a feel good entertainer. Unfortunately it isn't, and Hitudu belongs to the category of those films, the principle of which is righteous, but the execution of which fails the every purpose that it upholds. Overall, Hitudu - performance in most parts are satisfactory but the film never manages to enamor its audience.
"Hitudu" has some extraordinary performances and interesting story line complemented by some worthy dialogues. The film has an art film flavour completely and will not impress the regular audience. All those who like realistic films with a slow narration can try it. Rest can take it easy.
Debutant Viplov tried to give some good message to the society with his film. Some of the dialogues are thought provoking. The film's concept is good but he completely failed in his execution. Right from the start to finish the film drags at snail's pace. He lacked clarity in narration and failed in his screenplay and direction. He tried to find solutions to various problems in the society in his film and in the end failed to attract movie lovers completely.
