‘Natyam’ movie review’: The dance is good, but the film needed a better script

‘Natyam’ has its heart at the right place but falters with a partially engaging narrative

A film that revolves around classical dance, produced by and starring a Kuchipudi dancer, attempts to draw a parallel between a contemporary story and a fictional tale dating back to pre-Independent India. A premise like that is unusual in contemporary Telugu cinema. Debut director Revanth Korukonda and dancer Sandhya Raju deserve appreciation for venturing into a territory not many would dare to. Sandhya leads from the front, accompanied by several actor-dancers, in this film that begins well but loses steam midway.

The story unfolds in a fictional dance village called Natyam, which serves as a hat tip to the Kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh as well as dance-centric schools such as Kalakshetra that are mini universes unto themselves. Sithara (Sandhya Raju) grows up learning dance and is eager to prove herself to be worthy of a rangapravesam in the presence of her guru (Adithya Menon). She believes she is the chosen one to narrate the story of Kadambari, which her guru shared with her when she was a little girl. But she realises that its very presentation might challenge superstitious beliefs and hence invite trouble.

At first, the story appears simple and straightforward. The politics, drama and conflict points emerge gradually. The story of the dance village and its happenings are sometimes over-explained, but it’s possible to overlook this aspect for a while thanks to the aesthetic temple village (filmed in Lepakshi and Hampi among other places) and the skilful choreography of the opening ‘Nama Shivaya’ dance number. The synchronised moves by Sitara and Hari Babu (Kamal Kamaraju as the guru’s son) to Shravan Bharadwaj’s music set the stage for a narrative centred on dance.