#Peddi Review

#Peddi

Telugu -2026

Starring: Ramcharan , Shiva Rajkumar, Jahnvi Kapoor, Jagapathi Babu , Ravi Kishan , Divyendu Sharma and Boman Irani

Directed by Buchi Babu Sana

Plot : Peddi, a gifted athlete hailing from a marginalized, lower caste community in a village erased from official recognition, embarks on a journey through sport to reclaim the dignity, identity, and legitimacy long denied to both his people and his homeland.

Performance wise , Ramcharan shoulders the entire film as Peddi. He has given his Blood & Sweat for this physically demanding film and has done complete justice to his role. Shiv Rajkumar as Gournaidu is great but unfortunately his role is underwritten. Nonetheless, Shivrajkumar does a great performance. Jahnvi wasted and only used for obscenity & glamour. Remove her and you don't find any change in the plot. Jagapathi Babu as Appalsoori is fantastic in a limited role. Divyendu Sharma wasted with a cliched role that has no dimension at all. Ravi Kishan , Satya , Viji Chandrasekhar and even Boman Irani wasted. Upendra Limaye gets a small role and has done well but all three Hindi Actors Upendra , Boman & Divyendu suffer from bad lip synch.

Technically the film is very strong , thanks to a wonderful cinematography by Rathnavelu and an extraordinary music by A.R.Rahman. ARR's BGM and Rathnavelu's camera work elevate a lot of scenes and make the film visually stunning. Editing by Navin Nooli is unintentionally funny sometimes where as some VFX are good but largely it feels stale and outdated.

The film opens with an inciting incident that happens in Olympics 2016 and then the film eventually shifts to Flashback narrated by a villager about Peddi to Boman Irani character. The Flashback opens with Peddi and his love for sports especially Cricket. The Cricket sequences however are over the top and even if anyone had 0.5% ounce knowledge about Cricket would say the sequences are unintentionally funny. Then the Heroine track begins which is completely horrible and beyond Vulgarity. Even a normal standing shot they make Jahnvi expose her body for no reason at all. There is a sequence where a Character assaults the female protagonist is taken in a light way followed by a romantic duet which feels very disturbing. The First Half feels so random. There is a character death which is supposed to evoke sympathy but due to half baked writing the emotional connect is missing. The Pre Interval change & idea looks good but the execution isn't upto to the point.

Post the Interval, the Second Half completely focuses on the Wrestling aspects and feels like typical sports drama again. While the core idea feels good again the sequences doesn't feel new and feels like multiple ripoffs from various sports film. There is a special song which is good but unfortunately the placement again feels so random and even if you remove it, wouldn't make any difference. There are some unwanted scenes in Second Half which could've been removed. The Last 40 mins from the Hospital scene is where the film tries to redeem itself but by the time the core idea is explored its too late. Ramcharan has done a fantastic job in the Hospital scene and the Climax Speech scene which technically work as the heart of the film. The Train scene comes as a shocker which again feels new and unique for a Star Hero film but post the the film feels very rushed to end . The Final Sports sequence felt good but abrupt cuts and bad VFX tried to bog that down.

Talking about the film's Negatives, the film right from the word get go feels unoriginal . A character narrating the entire story trope feels ripped off from KGF or even Devara. The Sports segments feel very cliched and follows every trope that major sports films like Lagaan, Sultan , Dangal or even Jersey has followed. The character writing except for Peddi, feels very half baked and zero strong supporting characters. The film's runtime is stretched extensively and the film has lags in many portions. The VFX also looks so cheap and tacky in may portions.

Coming to Writer Director Buchi Babu Sana, his core idea is commendable but Peddi has once again proved that not all Good Intentions can become Good Films. Ofcourse the film has some good writing here and there but largely feels like watching a mix tape of other sports films and social commentary films . The Crossover Athelete concept feels forced and it doesn't even bear anything from it. The film needed a much tighter screenplay and better character writing. 

Overall : Peddi is a mediocre Sports Drama that is technically/visually top notch and has a stellar performance by Ramcharan but suffers big time in writing department and feels unoriginal. Can be watched once for Ramcharan's performance and his efforts but other than that...

Rating 2.5/5