Peddi: Ram Charan’s sports drama mistakes suffering for storytelling; Janhvi Kapoor’s midriff is given more screentime
What do you get when you mix The Karate Kid with Dangal and Lagaan? Peddi. At least on paper. In execution, it feels like a patchwork of familiar sports-movie beats, borrowing generously from it’s inspirations while leaving behind the excitement and emotional connect that made them work. Peddi Directed by Buchi Babu, the story revolves around Peddi (Ram Charan) a talented cricketer from a lower-caste community in a neglected village, long denied a railway station. Frustrated by years of apathy from the government, he decides to put his village on the national map by winning a national wrestling championship. But when fate doesn’t help, Peddi’s journey takes an unexpected turn. What follows forms the crux. What starts as an inspiring story about India’s sporting ambitions soon descends into narrative chaos. Peddi is introduced as a cricketing phenomenon capable of feats that would put Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to shame. Just as you’re settling into that storyline, the film performs a bizarre pivot to wrestling. The transition is so strange… it feels less like …





