Souryam is like all other Gopichand flicks that have released so far. It has a good bit of comedy, romance, teasing scenes and action and goes on at a fair pace. It does not bore you, neither does it make you say wow. Director Siva Kumar identifies his target audience, knows Gopichand's image and delivers exactly what is expected from the hero to the audience that watch his films.

What is it about: Vijay (Gopichand) is a newcomer to Kolkata. He joins a college in Kolkata, gains admission into Swetha's (Anushka) house, helps a friend Divya (Poonam Kaur) when she is in need and keeps bashing up a few baddies in between. The parallel track shows the villains Shankar Goud (Manoj K Jain) and Ajay frantically trying to find Gopichand. Why are they trying to find Vijay? What is the relation between Vijay and Divya? Souryam answers these questions in a 2.5 hr entertaining saga.

What is Good: The fact that the director and the hero know who they are catering to is clearly an asset for the film. No frills are attempted. The editing is pretty good and the film does not allow you to get really bored anywhere. Gopichand comes up with a usual energetic performance, Anushka fills in with the requisite amount of glamor and comedy. Ali, Krishna Bhagwan, Raghubabu provide good laughs. Manoj K Jain and Ajay do not have much to do, but do well with whatever little they are given. MS Narayana's single scene cameo is also good. The action episodes in the first half are short and good.

What is bad: The music is a minus point to the film. Manisarma's score is ordinary and the picturisation is also strictly ok. The placement of the songs in the second half was also bad. The extremely routine slambang climax in the end takes away some of the sheen from the film as does the heavy sister sentiment. Shades of Pokiri (especially in the item song) creep in sometimes. Finally, the fact that Souryam is like a lot of other Gopichand films restricts its appeal to a large extent.

Me Thinks: If you like all Gopichand's brand of action movies, Souryam is a decent one time watch. The comedy will keep you engrossed and the action episodes are well shot. A film made in the perfect (6 songs, 5 fights) mode – not great, not bad...

Tailpiece: Why does everyone in Kolkata talk exclusively in Telugu? I mean, not a word in Bengali even though the entire first half is set in Kolkata. Cinematic liberty? A bit too much, me thinks!