Meter review: A cautionary tale for young actors raring to become ‘mass heroes’

Young hero Kiran Abbavaram is steadily building his career in Telugu Film Industry (TFI) and carving an identity for himself.

He delivered hits in the very initial days of his career, soon becoming a darling of producers and directors — especially small and middle-range filmmakers.

As a result, Kiran Abbavaram has been continuously signing new films and coming up with new releases regularly.

This week, he is reaching out to the audience with the cop drama Meter. Does he impress with Meter?

Story and backdrop

Arjun Kalyan (Kiran Abbavaram) despises being a police officer after seeing the humiliation and difficulties his father — a sincere police officer — faced.

But, his father’s ambition is to see Arjun Kalyan as a police officer, as he believes that it’s a very responsible job that lets people help those in need.

Thus, Arjun Kalyan becomes a police officer at his father’s insistence, though he is not interested. And then he tries to get himself suspended.

But an unexpected encounter with Home Minister Kantam Byreddy (Dhanush Pawan) changes his mind.

Why does Arjun Kalyan, who wanted himself suspended from the police force, now hankers to regain his job?

What made him turn from a guy who once despised the profession into a ferocious and responsible cop forms the main plot of Meter.

Arjun Kalyan 🔥

Proper entertainment tho unna commercial cinema METER meru enjoy chestaru . Waiting for your response:) #Meter #Meterday pic.twitter.com/VtuVaA0DQx

— Kiran Abbavaram (@Kiran_Abbavaram) April 6, 2023

Poor story, routine treatment

The story of Meter is pretty routine and lacks freshness. We have already seen many cop dramas like this and, in fact, many scenes remind us of old movies.

It appears the story is not written to impress the audience but to satiate the “mass hero” cravings of Kiran Abbavaram.

Adding to a weak story, poor treatment spoils the whole movie.

Also Read: Racer Tamil movie review

Director Ramesh Kaduri has thoughtlessly followed the cliched format one sees in regular formula movies.

As a result, Meter comes across as a parody of cop drama enacted by Kiran Abbavaram, instead of viewers connecting with the characters and the story.

Performances

Kiran Abbavaram has shown ease in essaying a police officer.

He has also enacted both the action scenes and the film’s comedy well.

However, he needs to work seriously on his story selection.

Athulya Ravi looks gorgeous. She has no role and is there just as eye candy.

Also Read: August 16 1947 Tamil movie review

Dhanush Pawan is impressive as the antagonist.

Posani Krishna Murali, Saptagiri, Ramesh Reddy and others also appear in this forgettable movie.

On the technical side

Sai Karthik has composed the music for the film, and a couple of his songs are good.

His BGM is fine, but when the story itself fails to draw in the audience, what can a music director do?

Venkat C Dileep’s cinematography is also fine. Editor Karthik Srinivas had a lot of work to do.

Final take

Meter appears like a movie made to present Kiran Abbavaram as a “mass hero” rather than to woo movie lovers.

Kiran Abbavaram should know that heroes become mass stars only through good stories and not with cliched formulaic movies.

(Views expressed are personal.)