Deewana is a 2026 Telugu-language romantic drama written and directed by Sreekanth Sangishetty. The film has Harshith Reddy & Smeha Manimegalai playing the lead roles. At the same time, Narsing Wadekar, Naresh Vijay Krishna, Jhansi, Karumanchi Raghu, Venu Yeldandi, Jeevan Kumar, KK, Ravindra B, Sridhar Reddy, Sindhuja Katike, Tony, Shivaram & others are seen in important supporting roles. The music is composed by Eswar Chand. The film is produced by Vasudev Koppineni & Sridevi Karyampudi under Arha Media, V Studios & Cam Entertainment banners.
Story:
Munna (Harshith Reddy) is a carefree young man from Hyderabad who spends his days having fun with friends and avoiding responsibilities. One day, he falls in love at first sight with Amulya aka Ammu (Smeha Manimegalai), a girl working at an e-Seva center. He keeps trying to impress her, but she rejects his proposal and tells him that she will only consider his love if he gets a government job. Will Munna get the job and win Ammu’s love? Needs to be seen in the film.
What about on-screen performances?
Young actor Harshith Reddy of Shubham fame carries the film on his shoulders and delivers a fantastic performance as Munna. Harshith Reddy has mostly played soft and subtle characters until now, but with this film, he takes a complete U-turn and appears as a Hyderabad local youngster in a slightly mass-oriented role and impresses with his overall act. His expressions in a few emotional scenes are very good, and he kills it with the local Hyderabadi/Telangana slang.
Debut heroine Smeha Manimegalai fits perfectly into her soft-natured yet sensitive role. In fact, accepting a role like this for her very first film as a heroine is quite a challenge, and she handles it confidently. The only issue in her act is her lip sync. More care could have been taken with her dubbing.
Narsing Wadekar, who plays the hero’s best friend, is the surprise package of the film. All his scenes with Harshith will be loved by the youth, and his character shows us how Hyderabadi youth will care for their best friends. Also, his scene where he comes to the hero’s rescue in the first half gets the maximum whistles in the theatres and is one of the film’s best scenes.
Tony, as the other sidekick of the hero, also leaves a mark in his part. He also gets a lot of whistles in another hero rescue scene in the latter half of the film.
VK Naresh & Jhansi, who play the hero’s parents, bring out the emotional aspects of their characters quite effectively.
Raghu Karumanchi and Balagam Venu may have limited screen time, but they leave an impact with their performances in meaningful roles.
Jeevan Kumar, Sindhuja Katike, KK, Ravindra B, Sridhar Reddy, Shivaram & all others are fine in their limited supporting characters.
What about off-screen talents?
The story by Sreekanth Sangishetty is pretty decent. What makes a romance stand out is the emotional depth or a strong twist built around that basic love story. This film succeeds in doing exactly that. A couple of well-executed twists add both emotion and sentiment to the narrative, transforming it into a heartfelt love story.
The screenplay is fairly well written for most of the film. There are a few portions that look dull and feel stretched in both the haves, too. However, the relatable emotional angle, along with a strong friendship angle, adds the much-needed depth to the proceedings.
The film starts on an okay note. The first 20 minutes look quite ordinary. The love-at-first-sight scene is very routine and doesn’t add anything fresh. Things get better from the E-seva portions, and the love track here with some funny touches are well thought out. The supervisor subplot and the fight between the friends look like familiar elements added for a commercial touch. But the drive of these scenes that lead us to the interval point is gripping. The sequence where the police take the hero away just before the interval is good. The interval delivers a major twist from the heroine’s side that is genuinely surprising.
Things go downhill at the start of the second half as it focuses more on the hero’s efforts to secure a government job, his personal struggles, and the mystery surrounding the heroine’s identity and motives. The hidden feelings of the heroine, which are expressed through a sad song and the SI training sequences, slow down the pace. Some portions involving the hero and his friends feel slightly stretched. But what works in this half is the emotions. In particular, a sequence involving Raghu Karumanchi and the emotional scenes between Munna and his father, played by Naresh, are beautifully handled. The climax is highly emotional and includes another twist, although this one is easier to anticipate.
Director Sreekanth Sangishetty does a brilliant job with his whole presentation. His narrative is also pretty engaging. The way he handled the love portions is appreciable, and he made sure the story is relatable to all the Gen Z viewers as well by interlinking the love story with family emotions and a strong friendship track. Also, his casting choices are on point, and he gets good work from all his technical departments too.
The dialogues are very well written. Especially the lines in the proposal scene and the climax scene in the E-seva office are too good. Also, the mix of Telangana slang and Hindi-influenced dialogues is authentic.
Music director Eswar Chand makes an impressive debut. All his songs are good to hear. Undoubtedly, “Idi Prema” song is the best song of the album and “Thella Pori” is equally catchy. His background score works well throughout the film.
The cinematography by Vamsi Patchipulusu is first-rate. His framing feels realistic, and his lighting captures the visuals very naturally.
The edit by Hrishikesh Paspal needed to be sharper. There are many scenes where the pauses between lines could’ve been cut short, and the pacing could’ve been made faster.
The production design by Jhansi Gojala, the artwork by Ammu Karthik and the costumes by Manasa Nunna are noteworthy.
The action choreography by Madigonda Natraj & M. Hari and the dance choreography by Vaddee Krishnaa & Anil Jainy are done very neatly.
The production values from Arha Media, V Studios, and Cam Entertainment are commendable.
What’s Hot?
* Harshith Reddy’s Performance
* Smeha Manimegalai’s Performance
* Internal Twist & Pre-Climax Revelation Twist
* Emotional Climax & Love Proposal Scene
* All Friendship Scenes Between The 3 Friends
* Narsing Wadekar’s Performance
* Superb Background Score & Good Songs
* Well-Written Love Track In The First Half
* Cinematography & Production Values
What’s Not?
* Dull Middle Portions Of Second Half
* Love At First Sight Scene Felt Routine
* Fight Scenes Could’ve Been Cut Short
* Heroine Dubbing At A Few Places
Verdict: Overall, Deewana is a well-made emotional love story driven by an intriguing interval twist and a heart-warming pre-climax twist. It is an honest attempt that delivers a range of emotions and leaves viewers with the satisfaction of having watched a good film. Packed with youth appeal, friendship, love, and family emotions, this film deserves a place on this week’s watchlist in your nearest theatres.
Telugubulletin.com Rating: 3/5
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