Krishna And His Leela review: Slightly flawed but refreshing take on modern romance

Ravikanth Perepu is one of the more exciting Telugu filmmakers to watch out for. After making a promising debut a few years ago with the thriller Kshanam (2016), he takes a detour with his second, Krishna And His Leela, a lighthearted, slightly flawed yet refreshing take on modern romance and relationships. The film, which is presented by Rana Daggubati, was released quietly on Netflix on Thursday.

Though it starts as a cheesy take on modern romance, the film takes a refreshing turn as the story progresses, quite boldly crushing many mainstream stereotypes associated with the representation of love and marriage.

A tale of complicated modern-day romance and broken relationships, the film is centred on Krishna (Siddhu Jonnalagadda), who is in love with two women, his college senior Satya (Shraddha Srinath) and junior Radha (Shalini Vadnikatti). Krishna is stuck between the two women and clueless how to deal with his emotions. He is in love with and confused about both women at the same time. The other women in his life include his independent mother (Jhansi), who has separated from her husband, and his sister (Samyuktha Hornad), who is dating a Punjabi.

Krishna And His Leela explores the foundation on which modern romance is built, and it is on the money when it comes to dealing with subjects like sex and broken marriages. Here is a film that tells us it is okay to be in a complicated relationship and that it is normal to have feelings for multiple women at the same time.

It would have been problematic if the film had tried to normalize or glorify this behaviour. Thankfully, Ravikanth and Siddhu Jonnalagadda, who is also the writer, deal with the protagonist’s emotional problems without making him look like a creep.

Krishna And His Leela does feel exhausting at times and it takes time to warm up to its characters. But once you invest some time with them, you begin to root for them. The film doesn’t try to justify Krishna’s behaviour. Nor do we see him cheating on both women at the same time, which would have been very flawed. At the same time, we are never told if Krishna’s actions are right or wrong. In a regular Telugu film, an attempt would have been made to sanitize his character, but Krishna is spared such scrutiny.

The film is powered by good performances overall. Siddhu and the leading ladies are good in their respective parts and own their characters with ease. Jhansi, a highly underrated actress, is a pleasant surprise in the role of Krishna’s mother. The cinematography and music deserve special mention as they not only aid in the storytelling, but also play a crucial part in building the mood of the film.