Aranya featuring Rana Daggubati, Vishnu Vishal, Zoya Hussain, and Shriya Pilgaonkar in lead roles is written and directed by Prabhu Solomon. Releasing simultaneously in Tamil as Kaadan, the Hindi version titled Haathi Meri Saathi is postponed due to the pandemic. The music is composed by Shanthanu Moitra and the cinematography is handled by A.R.Ashok Kumar. While the theatrical trailer has certainly boosted the expectations, let us see what is in store for viewers watching Aranya.

An epic jungle adventure drama

Narendra Bhupathi aka Aranya (Rana Daggubati), a man in his fifties is born and brought up in Chilakalakona forest in Vizag. His only goal in life is to fulfill the promise he made to his father in protecting all the elephants in the region. This promise is now under threat as a powerful forest minister, Kanakamedala Raja Gopalam (Ananth Mahadevan) hatches a plan to build a township sprawling across 500 acres in the reserve forest area. This township comes with a 6km-long concrete wall, blocking access to water to the elephants and endangering their lives. With the whole state machinery behind the township, Aranya is left waging a lone battle.

Rana will keep you hooked

Aranya literally belongs to Rana and he has kept the audience hooked to their seats with a stellar performance. This is easily one of his best performances since his debut movie Leader. All the scenes in and around the forest came out really well. Among the rest of the cast, Vishnu Vishal is decent in his short role. Zoya was apt in her Maoist act and Shriya Pilgaonkar shines. Ananth Mahadevan as the leading baddie was apt and so are the rest of the cast.

A visual spectacle with soul stirring music and background score

The major highlights of Aranya are its visuals and splendid background score. For a moment, you will feel if you were in a jungle. Such was the impact created by the technical crew. Prabhu Solomon came up with yet another forest adventure drama and delivered a decent output. AR Ashok Kumar’s visuals are top class and so is the sound design. Editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan is good and the production values by Eros International are at its usual best.

WATCH OR NOT

While there are few lags in scenes involving out of the forest, it makes up for a good watch in whole. Rana’s spectacular performance, amazing visuals and electrifying background score are the major takeaways of Aranya. Watching this movie in cinemas will have a good impact as visuals and sound steal the show.

Director: Prabhu Solomon
Writer: Prabhu Solomon/Vanamali
Cast: Rana Daggubati, Vishnu Vishal, Zoya Hussain, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Ananth Mahadevan, Vishwajeeth Pradhan, Rajiv Kachroo, Master Jayaditya, Sampath Ram, Sheeba Chaddha, Bose Venkat, Raghu Babu, Bhivan Arora, Avanthika Chauhan, Ashwin Raja, Tinnu Anand, Maaran, and Abudhar Al Hassan.
Music: Shantanu Moitra
Background Score: Shantanu Moitra & George Joseph
Cinematography: A.R.Ashok Kumar
Language: Telugu

Playing in cinemas