Be it looking at a heavy lorry crashing her car or simply typing a message, she has the same expression. Shivani Rajashekhar, on the other hand, has a more lively character, but the actor sports a puzzled expression throughout the film. Teja Sajja is on autopilot, shifting the levels of sadness with each scene. The film would have definitely benefitted from better acting though. All of them cumulatively add to the film’s larger theme: one can’t alter his/her destiny. It’s all about how past and future feed off of each other, and it works at multiple instances in the second half, especially by illustrating how Vennala has orchestrated some major events in Suriya’s life. There’s more to this premise than just surprise, although it remains the writing’s primary objective. Their relationship begins to grow but the distance separating them seems insurmountable and if you haven’t guessed it by now, it is revealed that they are five years apart from each other. Moments before both of them are set to end their lives, cosmic energy (well, the sky looks like one of those alluring 4K wallpapers) brings them together through the phone number they both share. Surya is someone who gave up on his musical aspirations, whereas Vennala is passionate about pursuing her education Surya’s late father (played by Sivaji Raja, the heart of this film) is revealed to be a very empathetic person who encourages him to pursue his dream, while Vennala’s father stands as an obstacle between her and her goals so on and so forth. The contrast between their lives is underlined with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Teja Sajja plays Surya while Shivani Rajahsekhar plays… *drumroll*. If you felt Varudu Kaavalenu did a great job with dichotomising its lead characters by naming them Bhoomi and Aakash, Adbhutham takes it a step ahead. Of course, it is a story that expects the viewers to suspend their beliefs, but it certainly respects them.

She doesn’t precisely give one, but the story doesn’t presume we will believe whatever we are told either. At one point, a character even counters her usage of Sanskrit verses as a pretext to evade positing a logical explanation. And in Adbhutham there’s a character, that of an elderly grandmother, who keeps referencing Ramayana and other tales from the Hindu mythology to shoehorn parallels between those epic tales and the film's story.

Prashanth tamil cinema review