Sridevi Soda Center

Sridevi Soda Centre is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language romantic action drama film written by Nagendra Kasi and directed by Karuna Kumar and produced by Vijay Chilla and Shashi Devireddy under the banner of 70mm Entertainments. The film stars Sudheer Babu and Anandhi while Naresh and Satyam Rajesh play supporting roles. The film was released theatrically on 27 August 2021.

Synopsis
Lighting Suri Babu is an expert in lighting arrangements in his village and aspires to start a shop with the same business. He falls in love with Sridevi whose family business is a Soda center run by her father Sanjeev Rao. Sridevi reciprocates the love but her father disagrees as Suri Babu doesn’t belong to his caste. Suri Babu gets tangled in a murder case while a big shot in the village, Kasi becomes another big trouble for him. Whether Suri Babu overcomes the struggle to win his love forms the story.

Cast

 * Sudheer Babu as "Lighting" Soori Babu
 * Anandhi as "Sodaala" Sridevi
 * Pavel Navageethan as Kasi
 * Naresh as Sanjeev Rao, Sridevi's Father
 * Satyam Rajesh as Karri Durga Rao, Soori Babu's Friend
 * Raghu Babu as Narsayya, Soori Babu's Father
 * Praveen as Chitturi Siva
 * Kalyanee Raju as Dhanalakshmi, Sridevi's Mother
 * Ajay as Kodi Katthi Seenu
 * Harsha Vardhan as Prasad
 * Rohini as Padma
 * Saptagiri as Revu Nagaraju
 * Sneha Gupta in an item number in the song "Mandhuloda".

Reception
Thadhagath Pathi of The Times of India rated the film 3/5 and he termed it "a powerful story with a gut-wrenching ending". Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu in a more mixed review opined that overdoing the mainstream indulgences pulled the film down. "Sridevi Soda Center is the kind of film that happens when art-house and mainstream meet midway but it is not seamless. There are a few memorable moments and hard-hitting segments, but the film doesn’t sweep you off your feet," she added.

A reviewer from Deccan Chronicle rated the film 2.5 stars of 5 and called it "partly engaging." While appreciating the performances of Babu of Anandhi individually, they wrote that the love and chemistry between them was weak. Bhuvanesh Chandar of Cinema Express criticized the film for its "predictable, hardly engaging screenplay." Chandar was disappointed because the film showed "a lot of promise and scope" that went underutilised.