How Chandoo Mondeti's Thandel helps Chay the star meet Naga Chaitanya the actor

Thandel's success may very well revitalise the career of Naga Chaitanya and put it on a different path, something the actor has been hoping to do for a while.

Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya, aka Chay, went all out to promote his recent big release, Thandel. Directed by Chandoo Mondeti, it is being called the most expensive film in which the Premam star has acted. Thandel is a milestone in Naga Chaitanya’s career. Based on a true story of Andhra fishermen from Srikakulam who head to Gujarat for fishing for nine months in a year, the story seems to have struck a chord with him. (

Naga Chaitanya plays a fisherman in the Chandoo Mondeti's Thandel.

The good and the bad in Thandel

For the most part, Thandel is the poignant love story between Raju (Naga Chaitanya) and Satya (Sai Pallavi) and both the actors have essayed their roles strongly. Chay has pushed himself and shown emotional depth as an actor in this role. He has clearly put in a lot of hard work to ensure Raju was as real as possible. Sai Pallavi is a natural actor, and roles like Sathya are ones she is comfortable in, and she aces it. The on-screen chemistry between Raju and Satya and how they portray the yearning and sadness when they are not together shows how much they have internalised these layered characters.

However, the writing by director Chandoo Mondeti is a bit of a letdown outside the romance. Some aspects, like the goings-on in the Pakistani prison, how Srikakulam’s people take their men being arrested, and Sathya’s interactions with the external affairs ministry, could have been better fleshed out for more impact. In fact, the scenes of Sathya interacting with former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s daughter remind us strongly of Mani Ratnam’s Roja, where Roja tries to get her husband freed from the terrorists. Thus, some scenes seem very run-of-the-mill and cursory. The BGM and songs by Devi Sri Prasad are outstanding, and they really heighten the emotions in many scenes. Cinematographer Shamdat Sainudeen has also done a good job, but the scenes using VFX are a little shoddy.

Can Thandel revitalise Naga Chaitanya's career?

For Naga Chaitanya, this was an important movie for several reasons, as he stated in a video interaction with Sai Pallavi on February 6. Firstly, as an actor, he really wanted a hit. “Thandel is special because it’s a true story, and of course, I want a hit. As an actor, I’m craving right now for a good hit. It’s been almost two years since I’ve had a release,” he said. His last few films, like Custody, Bangarraju, and Thank You, didn’t really set the box office on fire. Most of his peers in Tollywood, like Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Prabhas and Nani, have been delivering hits and given that he comes from a leading film family, success is critical for an actor.

Thandel was a different genre than what Chaitanya has done so far, and the role of Raju allowed him to challenge his skills as an actor and prove that he could do roles with a lot of emotional depth. Themes like love, endurance, and survival are present in Thandel, giving Chay a wide character arc and allowing him to explore and grow as an actor. His performance in the film has reinforced Chandoo Mondeti's trust in Chaitanya to essay Raju.

So how did Thandel stand the test at the box office? In the first two days of its release, the movie grossed ₹41 crore worldwide and is on track to be a hit, say film trade experts. In fact, Thandel has given Naga Chaitanya the biggest opening ever for a film and it looks like it could push his career further and in new directions as well.