Srinivasa Mangapuram is a 2026 Telugu-language romantic action drama written and directed by Ajay Bhupathi. The film has Jai Krishna Ghattamaneni & Rasha Thadani playing the lead roles, while Mohan Babu, Naresh VK, Brahmaji, Ajay, Shaam, Sritej, Vasuki Anand, Indu, Harika, Vadlamani Srinivas, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Syama Harini, Kavya K & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by GV Prakash. The film is produced by P. Kiran under Chandamama Kathalu Pictures banner.
Story:
Seenu (Jai Krishna) arrives in Tirupati and notices that Manga (Rasha Thadani), the daughter of Peddi Reddy (Shaam), has taken an interest in him. As he gets closer to her, the two develop a friendship, and Seenu eventually confesses his love, even though Manga is already engaged to someone else.
Things take an unexpected turn when Manga’s aunt, Vara (Vasuki), comes to Tirupati from Bellary. After discovering Seenu’s pictures on Manga’s phone, she warns him to stay away from her niece. In response, Seenu reveals that his journey from Bellary to Tirupati was solely because of Manga.
Who is Seenu really, and what is his connection to Manga? Why did he travel all the way to Tirupati? The answers form the rest of the story.
What about on-screen performances?
Jai Krishna Ghattamaneni is below par with his performance. Though he looks confident in a few scenes, his dialogue delivery, his expressions, and his body language aren’t up to the mark. He needs to improve a lot with respect to his acting, and this is surely not the ideal script for him to get launched as an actor into the film industry.
Rasha Thadani looks beautiful with a decent screen presence, but even she could not perform to the fullest due to the weak writing of her role. The sweet gestures and expressions she gives in the songs are too outdated, and her role surely needed strong writing. Her chemistry with Jai Krishna also doesn’t work as expected.
Dialogue King Mohan Babu is the only actor who could do justice to his role on screen. He steals the spotlight whenever he appears on screen with his commanding presence and strong dialogue delivery.
Kick Shaam is miscast in the role of the heroine’s father. His part needed a better actor with a powerful stature. He never fits the role, and his Telugu dubbing is poor.
Naresh VK also fails to leave a mark in an irritating character that only keeps shouting in the film. His look is poorly designed, and this is one of his weakest performances in recent times.
The same goes for Brahmaji and Vadlamani Srinivas as well. Their tracks also don’t add any value to the plot.
Ajay, Sritej, Vasuki Anand, Indu, Harika, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Syama Harini, Kavya K & others are just fine in their supporting parts. There is no meat in almost all these supporting characters.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Ajay Bhupathi is completely outdated with a routine beaten-to-death plot line. A couple falling for each other, the girl forgetting the past, and the guy coming over to win her again has been explored in many films in the past, and this plot fails to offer anything new. Even the commercial elements he tried to incorporate into this plot misfire badly.
The screenplay by Ajay Bhupathi is very predictable with lazy writing and uninteresting developments. We keep waiting for the writing to surprise us, but it follows the same beaten-to-death path from start to finish. Most of the supporting characters and subplots add very little, making the film feel empty and forgettable. The comedy also doesn’t land. Naresh’s character fails to generate the intended laughs, and the film lacks enough entertaining moments outside the action portions.
Director Ajay Bhupathi does an underwhelming job with the film. His presentation looks outdated and gives a feeling of watching RX100 again in terms of the look and feel of the film. His writing is the biggest disappointment, and with a painful narrative, the film ends up feeling like a conventional commercial entertainer.
The dialogues by Tajuddin Syed & Kalyan Raghav aren’t effective and fail to leave a mark. The love story needed more relatable lines.
GV Prakash Kumar gives two decent songs, but for a love story with debutants, the film needed a much stronger and catchier album. Songs like in RX100 could have taken the film to another level. His background score is decent.
Jayakrishna Gummadi’s cinematography is one of the film’s strengths. He presents Tirupati and its surrounding areas in a fresh way, unlike how they have been shown in Telugu cinema before.
The edit by Madhav Kumar Gullapalli could have been sharper, as trimming a few portions would have improved the film’s pace, especially in twoards the climax portions in the second half.
The artwork by Sahi Suresh and the costumes by Mudasaar Mohammed are adequate.
The production values by Chandamama Kathalu Pictures are good. Kudos to them for shooting the film in real locations, which gives a fresh feeling.
What’s Hot?
* Mohan Babu’s Performance
* Couple Of Good Songs
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Routine Story & Predictable Screenplay
* Boring Narration & Lazy Direction
* Weak Performances
* Unwanted Songs & Their Placement
* Dragged Out Second Half
* Dull Love Track With Zero Emotional Connect
* Naresh’s Irritating Characterization
* Poor Casting
Verdict: Overall, Srinivasa Mangapuram is a completely outdated and boring love story with lazy writing and a beaten-to-death kind of a storyline. The debut lead actors fail to impress with their performances, and the direction looks very pale with clumsy presentation. Can be easily skipped in theatres & can give it a try once it comes online.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.75/5
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