Acharya movie review highlights: Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Pooja Hegde's film is plain okay so far

After films like Mirchi and Bharat Ane Nenu, director

Koratala Siva

is back with a story that's nothing out of the box for

Acharya

.

Municipal Chairman and wannabe-MLA, Basava (Sonu Sood) rules the temple town of

Dharmasthali

with an iron fist. Everything from corruption and harassment to dacoity and prostitution is encouraged, completely unlike the righteous past the town boasts of. The people of

Padaghattam

, a settlement on the other side of the river from Dharmasthali, are known for living by dharma and for their knowledge of Ayurveda.

In comes a mysterious stranger, Acharya (Chiranjeevi), who gets a 'soft entry' because he wants to stay inconspicuous, but will soon dance in the middle of the temple town with Sangeetha to Laahe Laahe. This sets the tone for how inconsistent the film will be.

Legend goes that an Ammavaru looks after the people in both parts of town. Every night Acharya turns vigilante in her name to 'clean up' Dharmasthali, as they say. The people there however question multtiple times if the goddess is even looking over them anymore.

But the forests of Siddhavanam also seem to face a threat from an external force, a businessman called Rathod (Jisshu Sengupta). The first half of the film unfolds everything with no sense of mystery even if by the end of it, it begs the question - Who is Acharya, what does he have to do with Siddha (Ram Charan) and Neelambari (Pooja Hegde). The answer is not hard to guess though.

There's even symbolism galore in a particular scene involving a temple ritual, nothing subtle here. By the time Saana Kashtam rolls around, the irony is lost on no one that Acharya just saved a woman from being sexually abused....then proceeded to objectify another woman in an ill-placed song. Koratala seems to toe the lie of morality whenever it's convenient.

It remains to be seen if things pick up in the second half, especially because it seems to promise to delve deeper into the story. Then again, it looks like it's gonna be 'saana kashtam'.