Evaru Telugu movie review: Whodunnit?

This one was suggested home minister (which bumped it to a mandatory viewing) and also by Firangi, so it would be interesting, without doubt. If you're interested in boxing things up, I'd say the keywords here are murder mystery and thriller.

The suave sub - inspector Vikram Vasudev (Adivi Shesh) is called to investigate/ help Sam (Regina Cassandra) who is accused of killing her alleged rapist (who a high - ranking police officer), so there is a lot of media attention and powerful people involved, so navigating the investigation is a tricky thing. Sam takes charge and avails Vikram's services for a "fee". 

A major portion of the movie is shot in an aesthetically - pleasing hotel room (bonus points for interior decoration) and is a conversation between the main characters in this movie. From here we're taken to flashbacks at 2 times, one during the murder and one a year before. Two story threads are interwoven here, and we're taken through different versions of the "truth", depending on who is narrating it.   

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The choice of the crime location is Coonoor which I felt to be apt, metaphorically. Resplendent (Regina?), obscured by clouds (till the last scene I was like WTF) and gloomy (dark things are afoot in this movie). The first half is spent on Vikram's theories on what happened and, and then we gradually move to the why.  Trailer.  Shifting of the truth narrative happens with the passing of the movie, as more and more facts are uncovered. This narration style reminded me of the Hindi movie Badla. A little birdy tells me that these movies were inspired by a Spanish movie, so automatically it is on my list now. It will be interesting to observe.

Regina has acted well here, going from vulnerable, defiant, fearless and cunning in different phases. This is the first time I'm watching her movie. At some points I felt she was holding something back, and felt she has more potential.

 Adivi plays his part well. I found his second half performance better than the first half. The bgm was reminding me of Goodachari (yet to write!), and was great here as well. The camerawork was beautiful, and captured the serenity of Coonoor and the tension in the movie perfectly.

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To be frank, I had to pause and ask home minister who these people are, as there are quite fast paced twists here and as I do not understand Telugu (had subtitles on). 

The execution here is superb, as the movie relies on the tight storyline and impressive acting to keep us hooked. The tension builds up in the second half until the end of the movie, when the cat and mouse game between Vikram and Sam is on. The last few scenes are a crescendo of thrill, amazing background music and tight camerawork. I just loved it. If I'm allowed to nitpick, I was not ok with the way the sub - plot was introduced. It looked quite forced and artificial to me.

Watch this for a thrilling story, great execution and if you like to guess and be proven wrong.

(Thanks, Krips, for the insights and for proofreading ;) )