Rating: 5/10 (Regular Drama with a meaningful Climax)

Cast: Sharwanand, Anupama Parameshwaran, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Naresh, Indraja, Raja Ravindra, Praveen, Ravi Prakash

Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, Direction: Satish Vegesna

Producer: Dil Raju

Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations

Shatamanam Bhavati is one film that made headlines during Sankranthi 2017 and managed to become the biggest profit earner out of the 3 films that were released. Is the movie deserving of the National Award given to it?

Plot: A old mother of 3 (Jayasudha) longs to see her kids as they have settled down in other countries and they rarely visit her. She begs her husband (Prakash Raj) to bring them together for the upcoming Sankranthi festival. He is successful in bringing them together but tells them a small lie which ends up creating a bigger problem than he anticipated.

Performances: Sharwanand as Raju does a fine job and emotes well. He is impressive in the climax.

Anupama Parameshwaran as Nithya looks gorgeous and does well. The bava maradalu romance is a straight copy of Trivikram's A Aa.

Prakash Raj and Jayasudha have proven to be the golden jodi for character artists and this film once again proves why. They are the pillars for the movie and are exceptional in the climax scene.

Indraja and Naresh are fine.

Praveen provides some laughs as Raju's friend.

Direction: Satish Vegesna has chosen a routine story that we have seen in many "family" films in the past but the climax is what makes it stand out. Despite the film lacking freshness in the story line, he has made sure that he extracted superb performances from his cast and made a heart touching climax scene that is bound to touch the heart of every single generation of a family. Overall, he has done a good job.

Technicalities: Music and BGM by Mickey J Meyer is good. The songs are nice to watch on screen. Cinematography by Sameer Reddy is excellent. He has effectively captured the greenery and lush surroundings of Rajahmundry and nicely intertwines it in the film to accentuate the family atmosphere. Editing by Madhu is ok as some scenes could have been trimmed to make the movie faster as it lags in the 2nd half. Dialogues by Satish Vegesna are good. Production Values by Dil Raju are fabulous as usual and the frames in the movie look rich despite the limited resources and budget.

Analysis: Shatamanam Bhavati is a clean family film with no fights and decent entertainment. The only drawback is the slow pace which can get on your nerves at times.

The film starts off establishing the story right away and Prakash Raj throws in a small twist to convince his kids to come back. The movie runs on this small twist and in between, you have bava maradalu romance and family bonding scenes. It's all a been there, seen that scenario but for once, a Telugu film in recent times has a climax that works.

Despite making you sit through 2 hrs of average content, Satish Vegesna manages to get this point across in the climax and this is what ultimately gives the viewer a satisfying feeling at the end. It is truly heart touching.

Naresh and Praveen provide some comedy here and there amidst all the family drama to lighten things up.

Overall, Shatamanam Bhavati is a regular family drama with a meaning climax. You can watch it once for a clean family viewing experience.