If
not
for
Tamannaah,
it
would
have
been
an
ordeal
to
sit
through
this
uninspired
horror
fable,
notes
Arjun
Menon.
After
the
success
of
Odela
Railway
Station,
the
creative
team
is
back
with
the
sequel.
It’s
bigger
in
scale
but
ends
up
being
less
effective
than
the
first
installment.
The
writer
and
director
duo
of
Ashok
Teja
and
Sampath
Nandi
respectively,
pick
up
with
the
vengeful
spirit
of
the
serial
killer
of
women,
Tirupati,
by
his
wife
Radha
(Hebah
Patel).
His
corpse
is
sealed
off
by
the
villagers
for
good.
Odela
2
is
set
up
akin
to
a
traditional
Western
with
a
village
in
trouble,
and
a
visiting
mystery
figure
who
can
end
the
local
population’s
tryst
with
paranormal
revelations
plaguing
their
everyday
life.
The
film
tells
the
story
of
how
the
two
forces
of
good
and
evil
clash
in
a
game
of
supernatural
face-off.
Tamannaah
Bhatia
plays
Naga
Sadhu,
headlining
the
film
as
the
soulful
protector
figure.
The
actress,
who
makes
her
first
appearance
close
to
the
midpoint
of
the
film,
lends
her
stardom
to
a
part
that
is
caricaturish
by
design.
The
antics
are
timid,
dated
and
belong
to
an
entirely
different
era
of
mainstream
exorcism-based
cinema.
But
her
screen
presence
elevates
the
one-note,
blunt
iteration
on
paper
of
the
godly
figure,
who
wears
her
spiritual
aura
and
propriety
on
her
sleeve.
She
can
invoke
the
powers
of
Gods
at
will
and
push
back
against
the
threats
made
by
the
battered,
cocky
spirit
haunting
the
village.
Odela
2
is
interested
in
the
subtle
pleasures
of
horror
filmmaking
but
invests
in
being
a
loud,
categorically
low-stakes
CGI
showreel.
There
are
multiple
set
pieces
featuring
VFX
shots
that
are
staged
with
little
to
no
emotional
impact.
The
dialogue
exchanges
and
visual
back
and
forth
lack
the
visceral
thrills
of
overwrought,
sleazy
ideas
and
the
pulpy
potential
of
the
ghost
story.
The
film
tries
too
hard
to
look
bigger
in
scope
and
impact
but
has
little
to
no
material
to
back
up
the
superficial
treatment.
The
attempts
at
discussing
spiritual
ideas
and
exploring
the
concept
of
‘God’
is
underwritten.
Ashok
Teja
keeps
things
moving
quickly
but
the
nonexistent
beating
heart
of
the
whole
film
keeps
it
largely
unimpactful.
There
is
a
sense
of
excessive
sadism
and
crudeness
in
the
treatment
of
the
plight
of
the
villagers,
which
is
left
off
randomly
as
a
plot
point
with
no
follow-up
in
the
latter
half.
Everything
is
tied
up
conveniently,
and
the
clumsy
screenwriting
poses
no
serious
challenge
to
Tamannaah’s
larger-than-life
figure.
The
thumping
score
by
Kantara
fame
Ajaneesh
Lokanath
is
not
given
the
space
to
elevate
the
stale
plotting
and
self-indulgent
action.
Soundarajan’s
frames
are
energetic
and
vibrant,
with
the
tonal
jerks
and
lack
of
visual
imagination
being
salvaged
to
an
extent
by
his
easy-on-the-eye
lensing.
The
only
person
walking
away
from
this
boisterous,
campy
horror
outing
is
Tamannaah
Bhatia,
who
gets
to
indulge
in
some
larger-than-life
‘hero’
moments.
She
gets
to
revel
in
the
surface
pleasures
of
the
material
and
play
it
up,
unlike
anything
we
have
ever
seen
her
do
in
the
past.
If
not
for
her,
it
would
have
been
an
ordeal
to
sit
through
the
random,
uninspired
horror
fable.
The
setup
for
the
third
installment
also
falls
flat.
There
is
only
so
much
a
committed,
sincere
performance
from
Tamannaah
can
do
to
save
a
film
that
is
falling
apart
at
the
seams,
one
scene
at
a
time.
Odela
2
Review
Rediff
Rating:
