Ram Charan is back at the big screen with his latest collab with Buchi Babu Sana in Peddi. alongside Janhvi Kapoor, Shiva Rajkumar, Jagapathi Babu, Boman Irani, and Divyenndu.
This is Ram Charan’s third release since the blockbuster success of RRR. His latest film Game Changer made on a budget of Rs 400 Crore earned only Rs 187 worldwide. Peddi, however is expected to turn the tide. Without any doubts, Ram Charan delivers the best performance. Both physically and emotionally, Ram Charan is seen deeply connected with the character.
Watching him excel as a crossover athlete across multiple sports is impressive, but it is his transformation into a wrestler that stands out the most. His final look as a runner is equally striking.
Peddi” marks Buchi Babu’s second directorial venture after his successful debut, “Uppena”. This time, with Ram Charan leading the project, he mounts the story on a much larger canvas. Although the film falls in the sports drama genre, and Telugu cinema has seen several sports-based films in recent years, “Peddi” offers a variation by incorporating multiple sports rather than focusing on just one.
Ram Charan is introduced as a cricketer-for-hire, followed by his romantic track with Janhvi Kapoor, along with a couple of songs. As a result, the first hour largely plays out like a template mass entertainer. Since Janhvi Kapoor’s character has little relevance to the latter half of the story, Buchi Babu appears to have front-loaded her role, giving her more screen presence and glamour in the opening portions before wrapping up the romance track. Consequently, the entire subplot feels forced and often borders on being cringe-worthy.
On Day 1, currently running across 8,807 shows, the movie has collected around Rs 25.62 crore as of 5 pm on Thursday. It has been receiving mixed reactions from viewers. On social media platform X one viewer praising the movie said-A complete packaged entertainer with a neat emotional connect. The USP of the film is the terrific @AlwaysRamCharan his best ever in the title role as a man in search of his identity. The sports drama has many goosebumps moments; the cricket matches in the first half (the way Peddi hits those towering 6’s) and the wrestling scenes in the second half. While another trolled Jhanvi Kapoor, writing “After watching Peddi, you can’t help but feel pity for Janhvi Kapoor. Sridevi would have never allowed her to act in such B-grade films in the South.”
Another wrote A very strong start for the film! Positive word of mouth and solid occupancies should help the numbers grow further through the day. #peddi #ramcharan”