Super Over , the Telugu thriller now streaming on Aha, is Praveen Varma’s debut film as director. Praveen honed his skills as an assistant director to Sudheer Varma and has collaborated with some of his mentor’s favourites — cinematographer (Divakar Mani) and music composer (Sunny M R). Praveen succumbed after a road accident and Super Over’s post-production was overseen by Sudheer Varma.
- Super Over
- Cast: Naveen Chandra, Rakendu Mouli and Chandini Chowdary
- Direction: Praveen Varma
- Streaming on: Aha
It’s a crisply narrated 83-minute film that does away with all unnecessary frills that can dampen the pace. Super Over is no game changer or milestone film but shows us glimpses of what the director was capable of.
Also Read: Get 'First Day First Show', our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox . You can subscribe for free here
Praveen doesn’t spend much time in establishing the three principal characters. He throws them, and us viewers, into the thick of the action and we gather details about the protagonists along the way. Best pals Kasi (Naveen Chandra), Madhu (Chandini Chowdary) and Vasu (Rakendu Mouli)’s lives take an unexpected turn when Kasi is in dire need of money to help his parents repay debts.
We get a glimpse of Bangararaju (Harsha, in a cameo) and his rags-to-riches story, courtesy cricket betting. The prospect of quick money draws Kasi into betting. Vasu, with a stable job and a steady income, tries to be the voice of reason and dissuades Kasi, but ultimately tags along and tries to help. Naveen, Chandini and Rakendu stay in sync with what the director-driven film requires of them.
The stakes get higher once Kasi gets a taste of winning and we see him enjoying the process, his demeanour revealing it all. He wins big but it’s not going to be easy to get the money. A relentless chase begins, all over one night.
Newer characters that are a part of the betting nexus keep popping up. With a few of these characters, smaller subplots emerge, some of which work and some of which serve to add contrived twists and turns.
Had all this been fleshed out even better, we might have had a nail-biting battle of wits between the three friends and a police officer, played by Ajay. Nevertheless, Super Over has its moments, like the backstory of the cab driver for instance. Where the narrative slips, Sunny’s background score and Divakar Mani’s camera come in handy to keep us invested.
There are fun references to James Bond films, director Shankar’s film Sivaji and on another occasion, a scene from Chiranjeevi-starrer Khaidi turns things around on that fateful night.
Super Over doesn’t tap its potential of being an edge-of-the-seat thriller but is a reasonably packaged thriller.
(The film streams on Aha)
