OTT Review: Ritika Singh’s Valari

Ritika Singh’s new horror thriller Valari arrived on ETV Win today. Helmed by director Mritika Santoshini, the film also stars Sriram and Uttej in pivotal roles. Let’s see what the movie is like.

History:

Naveen (Sriram) is a Navy captain working in Chennai. He lives with his wife Divya (Ritika Singh) and his son. Divya keeps having a strange dream in which a 13-year-old girl kills her parents. Naveen is transferred to Krishnapatnam and takes his family with him. At first, they begin to live in government quarters. Divya is attracted to an old bungalow there. She begins to experience mysterious incidents and one day she has an accident. After Divya’s recovery, the entire family moves to that old bungalow. Soon enough, the family discovers that the bungalow is connected to their lives. What happened in that bungalow? How is he related to Naveen’s family? Why does Divya have such a strange dream? The movie has the answers.

Plus Points:

Ritika Singh is the heart and soul of Valari. The entire film revolves around her character and the actress delivers a solid performance. Ritika Singh also got the opportunity to showcase her action moves and was wonderful in the flashback sequence. Once the key twist is revealed, Ritika’s performance becomes even more powerful.

Sriram is decent in his role and ably supports Ritika Singh. Some sequences are carefully handled and the film becomes interesting towards the climax. The social issue shown in the film requires more public attention and the filmmakers deserve credit for addressing this aspect.

There is a small dialogue at the end where Ritika Singh breaks the fourth wall and poses an important question to the society. Moments like these are executed well. Uttej, Subbaraju and others did what was expected of them.

Bad points:

If one expects a solid thriller or scary moments, Valari will surely leave you disappointed. Based on the trailer, Valari looks like a horror thriller, but the film lacks effective thrills and surprising moments. Valari doesn’t scare us either. The gripping storytelling, so necessary in films like these, is clearly missing.

Valari has some interesting ideas, but the execution is not up to par in many scenes, so the film does not give us a satisfying feeling despite dealing with a relevant topic. Thoughts like the protagonist having a strange dream and forgetting her past twice are very exciting, but the same does not translate properly on screen.

Some scenes didn’t work because they were poorly staged and also lacked clarity. For example, there is a sequence in which the protagonist fights a man who looks down on women. Scenes like this should have been taken to the next level, but as stated above, they were not designed well and therefore the impact is missing. More care should have been taken when it came to the dialogues.

Technical aspects:

TS Vishnu’s music is fine. However, the lullaby composed by Hari Gowra is decent. Sujatha Siddharth’s cinematography is fine. We can’t help but notice the green screen in many shots, and the visual effects could have been better. The editing is sloppy and the production values ​​are below average.

Mritika Santoshini’s intention to show an important social issue and the problems faced by women in the society is good. Although the social message has been clearly conveyed, it is simply not enough. Valari lacks a tense script and exciting moments.

Verdict:

In general, Valari manages to capture our attention only in a few scenes, leaving much to be desired. Despite having interesting ideas, the film is far from satisfactory. Valari addresses an important social issue and the message in the end is a good one. Ritika Singh carries the film on her shoulders and the actress is impressive in her role. Lack of gripping narration, thrilling moments and ineffective presentation of some crucial sequences are the demerits of the film.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by 123telugu team

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