Review: Ko Antey Koti - not so racy - TeluguPeople.com News

There have been very few films which were filled with anti-heros or characters who are too cynical going by the conventional standards. That's perhaps the first thing which sets Ko Antey Koti apart.

Directed by Anish Kuruvilla, the film's lead characters believe that money is the most important aspect of life and they'll stop at nothing till they become rich. Yet, a film like this which could have been a gamechanger in this genre in Telugu, feels incomplete and ends in a void. It's a lost opportunity and it is disheartening to see a film with a promising premise going awry as it unfolds.

Maya Master (Sri Hari) is a robber who puts money before everything else in his life. One fine day, he decides to quit everything after one final robbery and for that mission, he recruits Chitti (Lakshman) and PC (Nischal).

Meanwhile, he comes across Vamshi (Sharvanand) in prison and finds out that his talent lies in scaling buildings. The four team up to loot a vault which is inside a high security zone. On the day of the robbery, all hell breaks loose and one mistake costs them dearly. The rest of the story is how they deal with the issue.

Among the four leads, Maya Master and Vamshi are easily the most interesting and intense characters. It's ironic that a heist film which requires all the members of the gang to be strong has characters like Chitti and PC.

Although, both the actors Lakshman and Nischal justify the roles they have portrayed, their characterisation is quite irksome and the fact that the first half drags a lot almost kills the interest in the film.

The only silver lining in the first half is the dazzling chemistry between Sharvanand and Priya Anand and their sub plot proves to be a huge respite as the story unfolds. Some of the film's finest moments and dialogues come only in the latter half. Sharvanand and Sri Hari shine throughout the film, Priya Anand is sprightly right from the word go.

The visual style of the film is wonderful and kudos to the new cinematographers Rakesh and Naveen for such a fine job. If only such brilliance had been invested in the characters and the plot, Ko Antey Koti would have been quite a remarkable film.

Music director Shakti Kanth Karthick makes a good debut. At a run time of nearly 156 minutes, Ko Antey Koti feels much longer than it is and it's not as gripping as it should have been.

It's not a bad film, but the ambition to make a radically different film seems to have overshadowed everything else and that hurts because films like this aren't made so often.