Potentially stunning, lost in its own vanity

HERE are films that stumble quietly. Then there are those that trip over their own need to look profound and take the whole theatre down with them.

- ADITYA DEVULAPALLY

HERE are films that stumble quietly. Then there are those that trip over their own need to look profound and take the whole theatre down with them. 8 Vasantalu, written and directed by Phanindra Narsetti, falls squarely in the latter category. It is a film that does not whisper its emotions but stage-acts them, arms flailing, nose flaring, voice trembling, all in the service of what it believes is poetry.

Phanindra Narsetti, the once-promising short filmmaker who gained acclaim through independent films like Madhuram and Backspace, returns with a film so drenched in ambitious depth that it feels less like cinema and more like a poetry competition narrated through aesthetic visuals. Somewhere between self-help slogans and tear-streaked monologues, the soul it's trying so hard to showcase becomes a blur.

The story follows Shuddi Ayodhya (Ananthika Sanilkumar), a young martial artist and self-help author who is introduced as someone strong, sorted and enlightened. At 17, she writes a book titled "RAYS — Rise Above Your Sorrows," and is described as a beacon of wisdom. Her first love, Varun (Hanu Reddy), exits midway, leaving her heartbroken. Enter writer Sanjay (Ravi Teja Duggirala), with whom she gets another shot at affection. But the film is less interested in what happens and more in what can be said about what happens in overly polished Telugu.