'Swa, a sound of soul' review: An honest attempt by a bunch of debutants

'Swa, a sound of soul' is a psychological thriller directed by Manu PV. Bankrolled by GM Suresh under the banner of GMS Gallery Films, the film features debutants Mahesh Yadlapally, Swathi Bheemireddy, Yaswanth Pendyala, Manik Reddy and Sidharth Gollapudi in prominent roles. The film hit the screens today, and let’s see how it is.
Story:
The story revolves around Abhi, an architect caught between fantasy and reality.Abhi tries to keep his sanity and finds a way out from his hallucinations.
Analysis:
Manu PV, a debutant director narrates this psychological thriller using horror and romance elements. He comes out as a promising new talent by extracting a decent output from his inexperienced cast and crew. It is a psychological thriller with ample twists and turns to keep the audience engaged till the end. In the past two decades, Telugu movie audiences are exposed to a wide range of successful psychological thrillers and horror comedies. Manu PV chooses to completely avoid comedy in the movie. Instead, he uses equal measures of horror and romance elements to narrate the story. The movie takes off as a horror story, turns into a romantic drama and ends up as a thriller. The director handles these transformations without faltering at any stage.

Performances:
Abhi (played by debutant Mahesh Yedlapalli) is an architect, who’s best at his job. The story of the movie takes off the death of Abhi’s grandmother. Amidst the grieving relatives near the dead body, Abhi starts seeing the old lady coming alive and performing her routine. He understands that it is happening only with him and starts doubting his sanity. The story takes a different turn when he starts to see and converse with his dead lover (played by debutant Swathi Bheemireddy). The rest of the story reveals whether Abhi is suffering from a psychological disorder or he’s stuck in a tricky situation.

Manu PV moves away from the established grammar in narrating psychological thrillers. He spends a great deal of time building a beautiful love story between Abhi and Swathi. He proves very effective in executing both horror and romantic elements in the movie. Among the actors, Mahesh Yedlapalli delivers a confident performance though this is his debut movie. He is seen in almost every scene of the movie. Swathi Bheemireddy too delivers a decent performance as a love interest and a guiding protagonist out of his chaos. Yeshwant Pendyala makes his presence felt in a small but significant role. Among the supporting cast, Manik Reddy and Gollapudi stand out with convincing performances.

Technicalities:
On the downside, the movie suffers a slow pace of narration in the middle and picks up in the second half. It is evident that the movie is made with a meagre budget, and it reflects in low quality of production in some parts. The quality of photography too looks inconsistent, particularly outdoors. Some of the supporting cast looks unconvincing. Despite these shortcomings, the movie holds good in sustaining the interest of the audience till the end.

Verdict:
The movie reflects the honesty and conviction of the cast and crew in making a commercially appealing movie within a limited budget. Go! Watch it!!!
Rating: 2.75/5