Starring: Nithiin, Tamannah, Nabha Natesh, Naresh and Others
Director: Merlapaka Gandhi
Producer: Sudhakar Reddy, Nikitha Reddy
Cinematography: J Yuvaraj
Music: Mhathi Swarasagar
Editor: SR Shekar

iQlikmovies Rating: 3/5

Nithiin's Maestro is another latest addition to the big Telugu projects that opted for a direct digital release. This dark comedy thriller has premiered today on Disney+Hotstar. It is an official remake of the 2018 film Andhadhun. Here is the review of Maestro

Story:
Arun (Nithiin) is a pianist by profession and acts as a blind person due to personal reasons. He meets a restauranteur Sophie (Nabha Natesh) and joins as a pianist in her restaurant. Veteran actor Mohan (Naresh) is a regular customer of Sophie's restaurant. Mohan gets impressed by Arun's skills and asks the latter to perform at his house.

Arun obliges Mohan's request and visits his home. However, he doesn't find Mohan and was greeted by his wife Simran (Tamannaah). This visit turns his life upside down and lead to many twists and turns in the story. What happened in that house? How Arun got into this web? Did he come out of it? To find answers, you have to watch the film.

Performances:
Nithiin gave his best for the role. He understood the lead character very well and performed with ease. Not even once, you feel that he is imitating Ayushmann Khurrana from the original version. He should be commended for bringing his own touch to the character.

Nabha Natesh looked glamorous but she looked off-the-place in the movie. Tamannaah took a bold decision of acting in this film and she did justice to the role. However, she couldn't recreate Tabu's magic from the original. Jisshu Sengupta, Naresh, Harshavardhan, Mangli and Sreemukhi have done their parts well.

Technical Aspects:
Director Merlapaka Gandhi stayed true to the original and didn't tamper with any scene from the original. If you have watched Andhadhun, you will find Maestro a xerox copy of it. The director himself admitted the fact in the pre-release event and other interviews as well. He copied it well and didn't ruin the essence of the original.

Songs by Mahati Swara Sagar are okay but not as great as the songs of Andhadhun. But Sagar did well with the background score. The cinematography by Yuvaraj is colourful. All frames looked beautiful in the film. The production design and production values are great.�

Review:
The makers of Maestro seem to have decided not to lose the flavour of Andhadhun and remained faithful to it. Most of the frames are also copied from the original. Barring a few scenes, everything else is a carbon copy of Sriram Raghavan's version. The first half of the film sets up the characters.�

Things start building up towards the interval and a lot of threads get tied by the end of the first half. All these threads are loosened up in the second half. People who have watched Andhadhun may not find Maestro so engaging. But for those who didn't watch the Hindi version, this will be a good treat to watch on a lazy weekend. Good performances from the actors made Maestro a good attempt and faithful remake.�

Plus Points:
Nithiin and Tamannaah's performances
Story and screenplay
Background score

Minus Points:
Poorly-etched role of Nabha Natesh
Songs

Final Verdict: Copy-Paste of Andhadhun Displaying Maestro.