There is a bumper week coming up with a new release almost every day of the week. And plus a huge surprise coming your way, so stay tuned. This is the pre Diwali weekend and yet it has quite a few interesting releases. So, I have just finished watching the telugu language movie Gatham on Amazon Prime. Now, the form of Amazon Prime has dipped a bit with a few releases that just wern’t upto the mark, does Gatham follow a similar fate….lets find out.

Gatham is the story of a couple who visits the house of a stranger when their car breaks down. Soon, strange things begin to follow. I have had to literally break this story down in a one-liner as otherwise I would be revealing a tad too much about the plot. The story is decent. The screenplay begins slowly with the twists and turns popping up every now and then. The more you watch it, the more you want to know why things are happening in such a manner. The answer lies in the second half. It is here that the film scores majorly as it was a delicate plot point that could have easily gone wrong with amateur writing. In the past we have seen films lile Nishabdam throw away interesting premises with a weak second hour. I dreaded the same fate here, as the movie had taken a similar turn. But I was pleasantly surprised with its layered story telling and a twist that pops up every 5 minutes. It eventually lead to the same end which wasn’t exactly shocking but it is the journey that impressed me, taking no straight forward paths. The dialogues are decent, BGM is loud in a few places(particularly the first hour) but redeems itself in the second hour. Director Kiran Kondamadugula has done a good job here though there was a little issue with the pacing in the first hour. But the way he handles the second half is impressive.

The performances are all good. In the interest of the script I will not be revealing character names which may act as a spoiler. Sof Puchley just catches your eye in an interesting cameo. Lakshmi Bharadwaj, Harsha Pratap and Raghu Gopal have their moments to shine. Poojitha Kuraparthi has done a swell job here in a bit of a layered character. The two stars of the show are Rakesh Galebhe and Bhargava Poludasu. The former has many shades to his character and does an impressive job. The latter is wonderfully restrained for most parts and some of the best scenes in the first hour involve him.

Gatham is a pleasant surprise and a surprise you won’t regret watching. Available on Amazon Prime.