In anticipation of Agnyathavasi, I watched Attarintiki Daredi (Which Path Leads to My Aunt’s House?) (2013), which teams Pawan Kalyan with the same director,  Trivikram Srinivas.  This was a decent family drama pairing Pawan with two heroines,  Samantha Akkineni and Pranitha Subhash and with Nadhiya, Boman Irani and Brahmanandam in supporting roles.

It was super fun to see Boman Irani in a Telugu film, even with his voice dubbed.  I assume he doesn’t speak Telugu well enough.  He plays the family patriarch, and Pawan’s grandfather.  Pawan is tasked to bring home his estranged aunt as his grandfather is critically ill, and wants to reunite with her while he still can.

Nadhiya plays the estranged aunt. and she was fantastic!  She was the best part of the whole movie for me.  She and Pawan share some very emotional scenes.  I looked her up afterwards as it was making me crazy where I’d seen her before.  She was Prabhas’s mother in Mirchi.

Pawan’s character is super wealthy but he enters his aunt’s household as a driver (sort of like Dharmendra in Chupke Chupke, but not as funny.)

Pawan has some cool action scenes.  (Evidently he’s a martial arts expert in real life).  Of the two heriones, Samantha is given nominally a bit more to do.  It’s not her best role ever — she’s improved considerably in the years since this film was released.

Brahmanandam has a lengthy cameo.  I can only take him in small doses, and it was TOO much.  However, at one point there is a Gladiator reference that is hilarious.  I didn’t need the half hour preceding it, however.

So, Attarintiki Daredi is an average family drama, elevated by Nadhiya’s performance.  I know Pawan Kalyan is supposed to be a Telugu cinema superstar, but he really doesn’t do much for me.  His signature is his dialogue delivery, and it just doesn’t come through to me, watching with subtitles.