Patang Movie Review: A Gen-Z Love Story, Works In Parts

Patang is a 2025 Telugu-language romantic youthful drama with a sports backdrop, written and directed by Praneeth Prattipati. Featuring mostly newcomers, the film attempts to blend friendship, love, and a kite-flying competition into a light-hearted entertainer. While the intention is sincere and a few elements work in its favour, the overall execution remains inconsistent, resulting in a mixed viewing experience.
Story:
Arun (Pranav Kaushik) and Vishnu Krishna alias Whisky (Vamsi Pujit) have been close friends since childhood, bonded through their shared love for kite flying. Their easygoing friendship faces a challenge with the entry of Aishwarya (Preeti Pagadala). As she grows closer to Arun, Whisky too develops feelings for her, leading to misunderstandings and emotional conflict. The friends arrive at an unusual plan involving a kite-flying competition to settle the matter. How this decision impacts their friendship and relationships forms the rest of the story, which largely follows a familiar and predictable path.
What about on-screen performances?
Among the lead trio, Vamsi Pujit stands out with a sincere and relatively strong performance. He fits well into the role of Whisky and manages to bring some emotional weight, particularly in the pre-interval portions.
Pranav Kaushik, as Arun, looks earnest and comfortable in lighter scenes, but his performance lacks consistency in emotional moments. With better expressions and screen presence, his role could have made a stronger impact.
Preeti Pagadala plays an indecisive young woman, but her performance remains uneven. While she suits the role visually, limited expressions and generic dialogue delivery reduce the emotional effectiveness of her character.
Among the supporting cast, Gautham Vasudev Menon leaves a mild impression in a role that suits him, especially during key moments. Vishika performs well within her limited screen time. The rest of the cast—including Gaurav Sunil, Rajeshwar Vemula, Vishal Silveru, Venkatesh, Kivish Vadlamani, P. Vignani, Shravani Yarlagadda, SP Charan, Anu Hasan, Sivannarayana, and Bindu Chandramouli—are adequate and do what is required of them.
What about off-screen talents?
Director Praneeth Prattipati aims to tell a relatable, Gen-Z-friendly youthful story. The first half moves at a reasonable pace with friendship, romance, and light entertainment setting the tone. However, the second half slows down noticeably, weighed down by repetitive emotional stretches.
The central conflict—a love triangle resolved through a kite-flying challenge—feels routine and could have been written with stronger emotional grounding. The friendship and love tracks could have been explored in enough depth, which limits audience engagement. While the pre-climax and climax attempt to add momentum, yet not fully deliver the intended emotional payoff.
Jose Jimmy’s music is one of the film’s stronger aspects. The songs are pleasant and youthful, and the background score enhances several scenes.
Shakthi Arvind’s cinematography adds visual appeal, especially during the kite festival sequences, with bright colours contributing to a festive mood. At the same time, the VFX could have been much better.
Chanakya Reddy Toorupu’s editing is decent in the first half but needed tighter trimming in the latter portions, particularly during the extended kite festival episodes. The production values are modest but appropriate for the film’s scale.
What’s Hot?
Vamsi Pujit’s sincere performance
Pleasant music and effective background score
Colorful cinematography
A few engaging moments in the first half and climax
Gautham Vasudev Menon’s screen presence
What’s Not?
Familiar and predictable storyline
Weakly developed love tracks
Limited emotional depth
Artificial-looking VFX in parts
Verdict:
Patang is a sincere attempt but average youthful entertainer that works in parts but struggles to hold together as a complete experience. While the performances, music, and visuals offer some relief, the routine story, slow second half, and lack of strong emotional connect prevent it from soaring higher. It may appeal to audiences looking for a light, time-pass watch, but it leaves little lasting impact.
TeluguBulletin.com Rating: 2.5 / 5
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