OTT Movie Review: Run

Story:

As Sandeep Reddy (Navdeep) is waiting for his wife Shruti (Pujita Ponnada) to arrive at a restaurant for their lunch date on their first wedding anniversary, he gets a call from home. That Shruti is found dead. Police found that it was not a case of suicide but a murder. And the natural suspect is Sandeep. He pleads not guilty and runs away from the police to prove his innocence. Shruti’s mother, colleagues, and friends also vouch that Sandeep would not have killed her because he married Shruti knowing well that she cannot conceive. Who killed Shruti and why?

Analysis

Touted as the first Telugu film made for the OTT platform, ‘Run’ starring Navdeep and Poojita Ponnada in the lead roles is a production of First Frame Entertainments (owned by director Krish). 

The psychological crime drama is currently streaming on the ‘Aha’ platform.

Knowing well about the ‘standards’ of Telugu web dramas, I kept my expectations very low before I began watching this thriller. Thirty minutes into the film, it left me scratching my head with its shallow sequences, hackneyed elements, and low-quality filmmaking. Sahana Dutt’s story is nothing much to write about. It is a generic psychological drama that ticks all the clichés of the genre. With a plot twist that’s hardly a twist, it goes on beating around the bush. The direction is substandard, and the acting is stagey.

The sequences of the police investigation are enough to tell how unrealistic and Tv-serialish this thriller is. It left me wondering how did this get a nod for production in the first place.

The irony is that the film ends with a hint of a sequel or a continuation.

Navdeep’s performance is standard. Poojita Ponnada is okay. Venkat (of ‘Sri Sita Ramula Kalyanam Chootamu Raarandi’ fame) as a police inspector seems clueless in the film. Barring the aerial shots of the IT zone of Hyderabad, the cinematography is passable. The background score is mediocre.

Bottom-line

‘Run’ has a lousy narration. It runs on for 90 minutes with clumsy scenes. This psychological thriller makes us run away from it even before it reaches the mid-point.