Television anchor-turned-film actor Anasuya Bharadwaj got a shot in the arm with Soggade Chinni Nayana and Kshanam . Most of the films that had her in a supporting role were successful and that might have emboldened directors to write a script that revolved around her. Kathanam does focus on her but it gives equal footage to Randheer. Anasuya plays Anu, an aspiring director who, in the first half of the film, is seen approaching five producers to narrate her story. Strangely each of them gets killed one after the other and by the time the third one is killed, she approaches a cop (Randheer) to seek help and resolve the mystery behind the killings. Intriguingly, the murders happen as those in the script she had written.
In the first half of the story. the director focusses too much on Dhanraj, Anu’s friend, but the proceedings involving him aren’t convincing. There is an effort to show how star writers in the film industry behave, and Vennela Kishore as CK hardly succeeds in eliciting the laughs.
The suspense unfolds in the second half with a few interesting twists. Anasuya is seen in a double role as Pasupuleti Aravinda, a rich, yet simple woman, who espouses a social cause in the village and spends all her money on the villagers’ welfare. When she is killed in a gruesome manner, her young daughter is witness to it.
After Anu reveals that she is the daughter of Aravinda and is taking revenge for what she had gone through in her childhood, there’s nothing more to look forward to. Srinivasa Avasarala makes an impact as Anu’s father but we end up watching the entire climax with a sense of detachment. It is a small budget film and technically it doesn’t impress. The writing is good but a little more trimming in the first half, especially in Anu’s trials as an assistant director, could have helped. Randheer does a fine job but Anasuya disappoints. Poor casting, music and the production values don’t help either.
