Peddha Kapu is packed with multiple subplots and several potentially interesting characters.
However, as Peddha Kapu progresses, it gets voyeuristic in its portrayal of violence. Limbs are axed at will and heads are chopped. The film is rated A (meant for adult viewing) and the makers do not hold back in the brutal bloodbath. The violence per se is not the problem, but the mind-numbing manner in which it is portrayed.
Several characters that initially spark interest are eventually lost in the melee - Tanikella Bharani as the village elder who has grown cynical with time, Brigada Saga who looks out for Pragathi Srivastava's character like a protective older sister, and Nagababu, who hopes that the tide will change. A fine actor like Easwari Rao is made to utter dialogues in a shrill tone throughout. Pragathi does not get much. In some scenes, her lip sync does not match the lengthy lines she speaks.
By the time a crucial character behind the shadows is revealed and things come to speed, it feels like one has endured way too much to want to watch the second part, which intends to showcase the rise of the common man to a leader.
