‘Sridevi Soda Center’ movie review: Succumbing to mainstream masala
The Hindu
Director Karuna Kumar takes a mainstream approach with the presence of Sudheer Babu, while trying to keep the narrative gritty
Director Karuna Kumar’s Palasa 1978 (2020) was in a raw, rustic space and explored caste politics with characters that weren’t typically white and black. With Sridevi Soda Center, Karuna Kumar takes a mainstream approach given the presence of actor Sudheer Babu and tries to keep the narrative gritty while discussing issues of honour. . The film is set in the Godavari belt, which is often explored by Telugu cinema for its picturesque quality. Instead of showing us an airbrushed Godavari region, Karuna Kumar and cinematographer Shamdat show us small-town festivities where the fault lines of class and caste divisions run deep, defying the celebratory lights. Suri Babu (Sudheer Babu) is the lighting expert for all festivities in the village. He, his father (Raghu Babu) and friend (Satyam Rajesh) take pride in their work and refuse to be submissive to Kasi (Pavel Navageetham).A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.