OTT Review : Witness – Telugu film on SonyLIV

Witness is a Tamil movie dubbed in Telugu. People Media Factory produced the film which is now streaming on SonyLIV. Let’s see what it’s like.

Story:

Witness revolves around manual scavengers and how they risk their lives every day cleaning sewers. Indrani (Rohini) and her son work in the sanitation department. One fine day, Indrani receives a message that her son died while cleaning manual drains in an apartment complex. Shocked by this incident, Indrani decides to take over the system. Will she win this lonely war? That forms the rest of the story.

Pros:

Rohini is a seasoned actress and such roles are a piece of cake for her. Whether in the emotional department or in the court scenes, she holds our attention. Shraddha Srinath gets a good role and does well in her role where she is looked down upon by caste issues. The rest of the caste are mainly Tamil actors and they do their roles with sincerity.

First, Witness is not an easy movie to watch. It is about the harsh reality of manual sewers and how they are looked down upon to clean up the waste around us. The film is not only about Rohini’s case, but also about the cruelties that the manual seamstresses face on a daily basis.

Written by Muthuvel and JP Sanakya, the film’s story delves deep into the system and how officials discriminate against these workers by caste. How government officials are involved, what goes on behind closed doors in government offices and how manual sewers are handled are grippingly portrayed.

Min Points:

The first parts of the film are slow. Even though Rohini herself gets the news that her son has died in the first ten minutes, the director wastes a lot of time introducing multiple characters and getting things started slowly.

In a way, sometimes you get the feeling of watching a documentary. The emotional outburst of a mother losing her son is not well established. The film switches and only becomes gripping when the courtroom drama begins.

Technical aspects:

The camera work is impressive as it looks disturbing but shows the manual seamstresses risking their lives to clean the sewers. The tone of the film is realistic and so are the dialogues. Those written for Rohini are moving.

When he comes to the director Deepak, he takes a very difficult subject and tells in a decent way. He goes deep into this issue with a serious drama with some riveting courtroom scenes in the second half. But the emotional thread in the film is weak. More melodrama would have made the film more intense.

Verdict:

Overall, Witness is the realistic drama of a mother’s struggle against the system. The backdrop and performances are top notch, but the emotions could have been better. The film defies the mainstream commercial format and has a serious tone. If you are the ones who like to watch movies based on issues, Witness will not disappoint you.

123telugu.com rating: 2.75/5

Reviewed by the 123telugu team

Click here for Telugu review

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