Band Melam is a 2026 Telugu-language romantic drama written and directed by Sathish Javvaji. The film has Harsh Roshan & Sridevi Apalla playing the lead roles, while Sai Kumar, Goparaju Vijay, Shanthi, Yogitha, Subbu Koduri, Pooja Kendre, Trishika, Ravi Raj, Avinash, Viswa, Vihaan, Laxman Meesala & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Vijay Bulganin, and the film is produced by Kavya & Shravya under Kona Film Corporation & Mango Mass Media banners.
Story:
Giri (Harsh Roshan) and Raji (Sridevi Apalla) are cousins who grew up together, with their families deciding in childhood that they should marry. But while Giri’s father (Goparaju Vijay) loses all his wealth due to his generosity, Raji’s father (Sai Kumar) becomes rich and distances himself from them.
As Giri grows up loving Raji deeply, she ignores him and moves on with her life. When she runs away with someone else and later returns, the story follows what happens to Giri, whether he achieves his dream of becoming a folk singer, and if their love story finally comes together or not.
What about on-screen performances?
Harsh Roshan does a good job in the lead role as Giri. He stands out with his energetic performance and impresses with his dance moves.
Sridevi Apalla is excellent as Raaji and shares good chemistry with Roshan. She is too good in the emotional sequences towards the end.
Sai Kumar as the heroine’s father and Goparaju Vijay as the hero’s father bring their experience to the roles and perform convincingly.
Shanthi and Yogitha are fine as the respective mothers of the lead pair.
The hero’s friends, mostly newcomers- Subbu Koduri, Pooja Kendre, Trishika, Ravi Raj, Avinash, Viswa, Vihaan and others are fine in their parts. However, the casting of the guy friends could’ve been better.
Laxman Meesala, BVS.Ravi & all others are adequate in supporting roles.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Sathish Javvaji is outdated with an age-old idea of a carefree boy and a rich girl separated by class differences. This idea is something which Telugu cinema has been following for the past 20 years.
The screenplay, too, is very poorly written. The love story is not properly established and lacks the emotional depth it needed. The reasons behind the separation of the lead pair aren’t convincing, and even the situations that bring them back together feel forced and silly. The comedy track, instead of entertaining, often becomes irritating and falls flat.
The first half passes with the hero’s antics alongside his band group. A twist around the heroine at the interval creates some curiosity, but the second half fails to build on it. The climax is highly predictable, and you do not root for the characters coz the conflict and the buildup to the climax are pretty weak.
Director Sathish Javvaji fails to bring anything striking in terms of his presentation and execution. The way he narrates his scenes is very outdated and boring. The use of the local Telangana dialect feels forced, and the band melam/folk songs subplot isn’t explored to the fullest, giving us a feeling that it has been used only for the audio album.
The dialogues are underwhelming. Except for a few funny one-liners here and there, most of the lines do not make an impact.
The songs by Vijai Bulganin are forgettable. Except for the Thippukuntannav folk song, all the other songs fail to click. But his background score is good in parts.
The cinematography by Satish Mutyala is pretty ordinary, and the editing by Siva Mupparaju is dull.
The artwork by Narni Srinivas is not up to the mark. There are so many places where the frames look empty, and there are scenes where the frame isn’t filled with basic props.
The costumes by Nandhana Gayathri also fail to leave an impression as the clothes look very random.
The production values by Kona Film Corporation & Mango Mass Media are just fine.
What’s Hot?
* Harsh Roshan’s Performance
* Sridevi Apalla’s Performance
* Few Comedy Bits Here & There
* Thippukuntannav Song
What’s Not?
* Outdated Story & Poorly Written Screenplay
* Zero Emotional Connect & Dull Drama
* Weak Love Track & Half Baked Sub Plots
* Unnecessary Songs
* Dragged Out Second Half
* Casting Of Few Supporting Actors
* Forced Telangana Slang
Verdict: Overall, Band Melam is a routine and outdated romantic drama set in a small-town environment, which is similar to the kind of movies that were made about 10 years ago. Weak writing and the lack of a strong emotional connect with respect to the love story make this a forgettable outing this week at the box office.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 1.75/5
The post Band Melam – Doesn’t Make The Right Sound appeared first on TeluguBulletin.com.
Band Melam – Doesn’t Make The Right Sound
