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A horror film named Tantra has hit the screens today. It has Vakeel Saab fame Ananya Nagalla in the lead role. Let’s see how the film is.

Story:

Rekha (Ananya Nagalla) is an innocent girl who is always surrounded by evil spirits. She is often worried and petrified about them. On the other hand, there is Teju (Dhanush Radhumudri), who has loved Rekha since childhood. As Teju is the son of a prostitute, he is always ill-treated. Meanwhile, Rekha and Teju’s bond gets stronger. Why are the evil sports after Rekha? Why is Rekha consuming her own blood? What did Rekha do to win her love and herself? This is what Tantra is about.

Plus Points:

The film’s core point is interesting. What if a girl is born with occult powers? What if demons and spirits always encircle her? What did the person who performs eerie rituals do to obtain those occult powers from the female lead? These aspects initially raise interest. Factors like Saloni’s characterization and emotional horror track related to Ananya Nagalla are presented in a decent manner.

Ananya Nagalla, who essayed the lead role, gave a superb performance. Dhanush Raghumudri, who played the male protagonist, did justice to his character with a realistic performance. Saloni is first-rate in a pivotal role, and Temper Vamsi packs a punch as the antagonist. Meesala Lakshman and others are satisfactory in their respective roles.

Minus Points:

Things like occult powers and ghosts aren’t new to Telugu cinema. Also, horror effects have become redundant lately, and Tantra, too, joins this list. The screenplay doesn’t have a head or a tail, which revolves mainly around the heroine. It also has an excessive number of subplots. The main motive of the film would have worked well had there been the proper ending to those subplots, but that didn’t happen.

The conflict isn’t strong, and the pacing is a tad slow in many sequences. The main characters aren’t designed well. Though Ananya Nagalla does a good job, her character graph dips as the film progresses. The director tried to narrate the first half in an exciting manner and even the concept holds more potential. However, the film doesn’t engage in its entirety due to logicless scenes and boring screenplay. Tantra starts on an interesting note but loses steam later with unwanted scenes.

Technical Aspects:

The emotional content could have worked better had the film had an enthralling screenplay. The point chosen by director Srinivas Gopisetty had good scope but it is the narration that brings the film down. The songs composed by RR Dhruvan are good. The natural locations and visuals are neatly captured by cinematographers. The editing isn’t satisfactory. The production values are fine.

Verdict:

On the whole, Tantra is a horror revenge drama that doesn’t offer anything new. Very few scenes and emotional moments are decent. However, elements like slow pacing, inclusion of multiple subplots, poor screenplay, and lack of interesting elements in the second half are the biggest drawbacks of Tantra. Though the concept had scope, the presentation made the film a disappointing fare.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.25/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

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