Acharya, starring Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, is set in the fictional temple town of Dharmasthala

The place of righteousness is fast turning into a den of vices. The mob, bankrolled by evi and greedy corporate bosses, has taken the town’s control and turned it into a lawless land

It is like a wild west down there. The cops, the government and politicians are all in cohorts, which has resulted in rampant exploitation of honest and hard-working people

The true believers are questioning the god’s inaction

Where are you? Why are you being a silent spectator of all the injustices

The town people have grown up hearing a legend about how the goddess herself descended on the earth to protect the sanctity of Dharmasthala when it came under an attack

So even in the present times, people in the town look up at the sky in anticipation of divine intervention when they are in trouble

Enter, Acharya (Chiranjeevi). We first see him standing at the top of a mountain. And then he descends like a god of the local mythical stories

He’s here to do the god’s work by ending the reign of terror and restoring the town to its past glory

Acharya is a Naxal leader and a hardcore communist. But, by the end of it all, he becomes the incarnation of the god herself in the eyes of the people

Director Koratala Siva operates this movie on simple logic, leaving no room for ambiguity. He shows us the conflict through the lens of black and white without any nuance

Acharya is a classic good versus evil tale. And the story unfolds along excruciatingly predictable lines. The narration works like clockwork

A movie fan would be able to predict how the story will progress from the beginning to the end without much mental effort

There is not even a single surprise element in the movie as you can see all twists from a mile off

Koratala Siva heavily banks on the visual element that gives this film a mythological heft to keep the audience hooked

The writing is so poor that even the massive stardom of Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan feels inadequate to lift this movie

It’s a snooze fest

The town is soaked in red where one can’t tell vermilion from blood, evil men dress like sages, and unapologetic use of trishuls and spears

the god’s favourite tools of war, in butchering bad men add little value to our experience

 442 total views