The Family Star Movie Review: What Are You Doing Vijay Devarakonda??

I'm coming to review the Telugu film "The Family Star" starring Vijay Devarakonda and Mrunal Thakur. Before I start, I want to mention something about the Telugu audience. What I find most admirable is that they don’t differentiate much between big and small films. If a film receives positive word-of-mouth, they quietly go watch it and make it a success. Small films have become so popular there that I truly salute their audience. However, the positive word-of-mouth trend seems to have faded a bit here, as our audience prefers big heroes, trendy elements, and popular songs to decide whether to go to the theatre or not.

Take the recent example of Madgaon Express, which took an entire week to earn 10 crores, while an average film like Crew managed to earn the same amount in just one day. Nevertheless, as I mentioned, the Telugu audience values good films, regardless of their hype. Keeping that in mind, if I were to review The Family Star in a single line, I would say that the film lacks hype and reviews, plus it tries hard to become Geetha Govindam but ends up resembling World Famous Lover.

First of all, the makers should have clearly understood what middle-class life means because, in the film, they hardly portray any genuine middle-class struggles. Instead, they keep glorifying how characters can manage this and that, while in reality, a middle-class household rarely has sunscreen with SPF more than 25. The film starts off decently, but when the baseless storyline kicks in during the second half, you’ll realize that the makers have misunderstood the audience. It’s such a routine story that it would be better to just watch an interview of Vijay Deverakonda instead.

The good thing about the film is that throughout, your attention will be divided between Vijay Deverakonda's shirt fitting and Mrunal Thakur's beauty. By the way, in his latest interview, Vijay Deverakonda mentioned he wouldn't work with any debut director. Well, after World Famous Lover, Liger, and this film, even debut directors won’t want to work with him!

Also, the film begins with a special thanks to Rashmika Mandanna, which makes me think it’s getting difficult to keep the film afloat. If you put the entire story aside, the audience might just do that too. Vijay Deverakonda looks quite charming throughout the film, although he does overact a bit in the second half. But that dance sequence in the film is very nice. After watching the film, the audience's dance steps will definitely change.

Director Parusharam Petla, after delivering an average Sarkaru Vaari Paata, has made this one even more average. If he had put the ending credits straight after the second half, it would have been more fitting. But, Mrunal Thakur's smile stopped that from happening. The song Nanda Nandana by Sri Ram in the film is nice, but the dialogues and action left much to be desired.

If I were to see someone in my middle-class family behaving like that, I would prefer to beg on the streets! So overall, The Family Star is strictly a below-average film with poor writing. I’d hardly give it two stars out of five. I’m completely confused about where to focus, should I pay attention to the subtitles, the actors, or think about going home? If you’ve seen it, let me know how you found it.