Jathara Story

Jathara follows Paleti, a careless temple priest, and his atheist son, Chalapathi (Sathish Babu Ratakonda). Venkata Lakshmi (Deeya Raj) develops a crush on Chalapathi, but their lives change when Gangi Reddy (RK Naidu) enters the scene. After the village goddess, Gangavathi, appears in Paleti's dream, she wishes to stay and protect the village. However, the villagers are suspicious of Paleti's family, and when Paleti disappears, they believe it's a bad omen. Gangi Reddy takes advantage of the situation, inviting the goddess to his home and aiming to take control of the village. The story follows Chalapathi's journey to uncover the truth behind his father's disappearance. 

Jathara Review:

The special aspect of Jathara is that it has been written, directed, and acted by Satish Babu Ratakonda. He has multi-tasked various aspects of the film and is decent for a young filmmaker. The village drama is based on a few true incidents that happened in Telugu states in the past and director Satish neatly incorporates all this in his script.

But he takes a lot of time to unleash the main conflict point in the film. He uses a lot of filler scenes just to engage the audience and introduce the character. This aspect looks dull and eats away most of the runtime. But once the main thread is unleashed, things move on a swift note. A touch of mythological elements have also been added in the story and this makes things quite interesting.

There are good thrills but after each one, there is a plethora of dull scenes which creates boredom in the proceedings. The scenes related to the goddess and the pre-interval bang have been neatly executed by the director. It creates an interest right away for the second half. After a good interval bang, things become dull once again. One gets a feeling that these so-called filler scenes should have been edited out to make things better.

There is a vibe to this film and that is carried out till the end. It has mostly to do with the production values of Jathara. They keep you engrossed in the proceedings. However, in the second half, the pace of the film dips, and takes time to get back. It is only during the pre-climax time, things start making sense. The director should be credited for ending the film on a good note.

Coming to the performances, Satish Babu was impressive in his role. Though he looks a bit rustic at the beginning of the film, he holds your attention well. His performance in the climax is superb and the way he showcases varied emotions gives you an idea about his talent. Deeya Raj plays the female lead and she as the village belle was also very good. Though she does not get much screen time, Deeya makes the most of it.

RK Naidu as Gangi Reddy is the mainstay of the film and creates an impact. The talented actor proves that if given a good role, a newcomer can also perform to the best of his capabilities. The music by Sreejith by just about okay but how he composed the BGM was top-notch. The mass beats elevate the fight sequences superbly.

There is a lot of religious touch to the film as it has mythological aspects. All these have been handled quite well by the camera department. The editing is okay but the dialogues are quite impactful. The production design needs a special mention as the village and temple setup are showcased amazingly.

The screenplay is a bit dull and this is one of the complaints. If the grip on the proceedings would have been a bit crisp, the output would have been a lot better. For a young team, this output is pretty good.

Jathara Verdict

On the whole, Jathara is a rustic village drama that has a decent plot and engaging few episodes. Though it takes a lot of time to come to the actual plot, once it does, it makes you get engaged in the passable narration.

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