Family Drama Movie Review: The premise of Family Drama, the new Telugu thriller on SonyLIV, is quite dark and twisty. A fractured family is brought together by the incapacitation of the patriarch, and the reunion results in even more hellish turns and twists for the newcomers in the house. Directed by Meher Tej, Family Drama is a movie with a misnomer of a title. This is no soap melodrama that we associate with our weepy serials, though there is a mother character who is always crying. This is a saga where two of the family members are psychopathic criminals! Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam Movie Review: Senna Hegde’s Malayalam Film on SonyLIV Is Funny and Relatable, and That’s Its Big Win!

Lakshman (Teja Kasarapu) is having a troubled life living under his strict a-hole of a father Sadashiva Rao (Sanjay Ratha), who is also very abusive to his wife Parvathi (Sruthi Meher). His elder brother Ram (Suhas) has left the house after a spat with his father. Lakshman's new bride Yamini (Pooja Kiran) is still oblivious of the tensions within the household.

When his father's controlling behaviour and the maltreatment of his mother becomes too much for Lakshman to bear, he takes Ram's advice and convinces his mother to add a drug to his father's drink and get him paralysed. Once that's done, Ram also gets into the house, but with his newly married partner Mahathi (Anusha Nuthula). Both the wives soon realise that their partners are not the innocuous men they believe them to be, as they witness murder and mayhem.

Watch the Trailer:

Family Drama has two big assets that make it a film worth watching at least once. The first being its unpredictable screenplay filled with some twisted situations, that would make Fargo proud, as to how characters go on to commit bigger crimes in their greed and to cover smaller ones. In that way, Family Drama has a storyline that has the potential to be riveting in the end. The finale will definitely leave you surprised, if it wasn't let down by some bad acting by a certain actor.

The other big asset is Suhas. The scene-stealer in films like Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya and Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya, Suhas grabs your attention right from his intro scene. He dominates over the proceedings as the psychopath who loves to listen to classical music, and the sequence where after eavesdropping on a crucial conversation, he begins to dance to a popular classical song, is the best scene in the movie. Family Drama completely belongs to Suhas - He is its strength, and at the same time, he is also a problem.

Confused? Let me explain. If the script is an asset for the film, its treatment isn't so much. At most times, Family Drama has this feel of an overlong Savdhaan India episode, that repeats key sequences, and has a very convenient way of involving certain characters in the mayhem. Like one of the wives sees a character murdering his relative in a public spot quite conveniently, yet no one else spotted this, despite the body being disposed from there. Another time, a character's throat is slit but the fake blood that pours out is only seen on his shirt later, and nowhere else. Many times, certain characters behave in very illogical manners contrary to what the situation demands. If the raw making, and even the screentime, was more polished, Family Drama could have been a much talked about movie. Tabbar Review: Pawan Malhotra and Supriya Pathak's Tight Thriller Series Gets Further Elevated By Its Terrific Performances.

Now coming to Suhas, seeing his unhinged performance, I felt like the director let go off the actor, and asked him to behave as he wishes for a particular scene. So when the rest of the actors felt like they are acting in a serial, Suhas' frenzied act comes across as oddly outlandish. Entertaining, yes, but very anomalous too. Apart from Suhas, the only actor who managed to come across as somewhat decent is Pooja Kiran.

Yay!

- The Unpredictable Screenplay

- Suhas

Nay!

- The Average Execution and Runtime

- Rest of the Cast Don't Leave Much of an Impact (save for Pooja Kiran)

Final Thoughts

If you come in with little expectations, Family Drama would make for a one-time watch, more for its surprise-filled narrative and Suhas' performance. The movie is streaming on SonyLIV.

Rating:2.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 29, 2021 01:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).