Release Date : January 20, 2023
123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5
Starring: VJ Sunny, Subbaraju, Prudhvi, Krishna Burugula, Ravi Raj, Roiel Shree, Divi Vadthya, Divyavani
Director: C Chandra Mohan
Producers: Harshith Reddy and Hanshitha
Music Director: Prashant R Vihari
Cinematography: Monic Kumar G
Editor: Aswin S
Related Links : Trailer
Bigg Boss fame VJ Sunny-starrer series ATM, which has the ace director Harish Shankar’s story, is now available to stream on ZEE5. Let’s see how the 8-episode series is.
Story:
Jagan (VJ Sunny), Karthik (Krishna Burugula), Harsha (Roiel Shree) and Abhay (Ravi Raj), who are from the slums of Hyderabad, do petty thefts for livelihood. One day, they steal a car that has diamonds worth Rs. 10 crores and without knowing that, they sell the car to someone. After the diamonds’ owner beats them up, Jagan proposes a deal that he will return Rs. 10 crores money in 10 days. Jagan and his friends rob an ATM van that has Rs. 25 crores inside. Hegde (Subbaraju), a ruthless ACP comes to the city to handle this case. Did Hegde catch the thieves and recover the robbed money? Did Jagan and his friends really rob the money? How is wanna-be-MLA Gajendra (Prudhvi Raj) involved in this case? To find out the answers one needs to watch the series.
Plus Points:
The story written by the noted director Harish Shankar is good. He needs to be appreciated for penning a nice heist story. The way of narration is also fine and the director Chandra Mohan succeeded in creating a serious mood that needs to engage audiences in a few episodes.
VJ Sunny of Bigg Boss Telugu fame is impressive and he gives his best. His attitude and makeover worked out well. His dialogue delivery is also good and he has a bright future in the coming days. Harsha played by Roiel Shree is one of the interesting characters in the series and the director designed his character well.
Apart from VJ Sunny, Subbaraju as a ruthless police officer performed very well and this is one of the best characters he played in recent times. After his entry, the story turned out more interesting. His behaviour, dark humour, and witty punches are fine. The rest of the characters are okay in their given roles.
Minus Points:
When you want to narrate a heist story, you need to write it engagingly. Injecting a bunch of twists and turns doesn’t make a heist thriller intriguing. It should be narrated in a perfect way that makes audiences glue their eyes to the screen. The first four episodes run at a slow pace and make one feel boredom. The latter parts are neat but a gripping screenplay could have made ATM an engaging heist thriller.
The story is nice but it has a few flaws as well. The story has a few unnecessary characters like Divi and Divyavani. The scenes involving them are totally unnecessary to the story. Besides, some of the scenes are illogical.
Gajendra played by Prudhvi Raj was shown as a powerful political leader in the beginning but the scriptwriter weakened his character by the end of the season. The makers should have roped in a better artist to play Gajendra as the character has good potential to make the story more intriguing. The way the director designed Prudhvi’s character is unimpressive.
If the makers are intended to continue a season, it needs to be ended properly. One who watched the series will question. “How does Hegde know that there is another man behind the robbery?” The scenes where Hedge presumes how the robbery happened are illogical and we need to presume that the director made it so as he wants to raise curiosity about the next season.
Technical Aspects:
Director Chandra Mohan tried his best to make the series an amazing one. He should have concentrated more on the screenplay as this kind of heist story needs an engaging and racy screenplay to excite audiences more.
The camerawork by Monic Kumar G is commendable. The drone shots and smoke effect shots are captured very well. The neat colour tone makes the series look rich in visuals. Production values are also good. Editing by Aswin S could have been better and many scenes need to be chopped off. Prashanth R Vihari’s score is fine. The VFX team should have done a better job.
Verdict:
On the whole, ATM series, written by Harish Shankar, is an okayish heist thriller that works in parts. Though VJ Sunny and Subbaraju performed well, the series fails to engage audiences because of its sluggish narration in the first few episodes. If you are okay with some unnecessary scenes and lag, you can stream the series this weekend.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed by 123telugu Team