Not only is this India’s first time-travel film, it’s one of the best time-travel films ever made.
I saw Aditya 369 when I was super young so it’s been ages and I felt a rewatch was necessary. I sat down with my whole family and decided to relive this film and I was not expecting to fall in love with this film like this.
This film came out in 1991 which is only 6 years after Back to the Future, and its influence is clear but never does it feel like a cheap rip off. It’s as original, innovative, hilarious and ICONIC as Back to the Future. Singeetham Srinivas according to my parents has always been a filmmaker that never stuck to a specific genre or type of film. He’s an innovator and it’s so evident with this. It’s mind boggling what they were able to envision & achieve with this film almost 34 years ago.
Balakrishna in this film is unlike anything I’ve ever seen him. I’ve always felt Balakrishna is an extremely under utilized actor and he’s always kind of stuck to a certain type of genre, and revisiting this only made me stand with my opinion much stronger. He was so great in this. He was charming, funny and most surprisingly subtle. I loved watching him in this and he was just a delight. I used to love watching Tarun when I was a kid, but now going back as an adult and seeing him act when HE was a child was truly amazing. He’s sooooo adorable and just hilarious and confident. He felt as fresh and strong in his acting skills as a kid as any of the adults he was sharing screen space with.
Singeetham Srinivas crafts something truly epic in this film. He introduced the concept of a time-machine to the country and uses it to take us back into a fascinating walkthrough of Telugu culture and history. It’s such a smart utilization of the time travel concept as for someone like me who has no idea about this certain portion of the historical time period, found myself not only having fun but learning a lot as well. The sets & costumes were EPIC and just screamed old-school filmmaking throughout. When we go to the far dystopian future the innovations (and hilarious the predictions of certain things happening in today’s world) don’t stop. The whole idea of radiation due to the 3rd World War was hilariously & scarily meta in many ways. I loved it all. Although the climax is a bit rushed, it’s such a useless and minor complaint at the end of the day because of how magical, innovative, and fun this film is.
I truly think Aditya 369 should have a chapter in the history books of not only Telugu Cinema, but Indian Cinema. I still can’t fathom how they created those sets, costumes, and writing choices back then. We deserve a legacy sequel to this because it’s such an important film for Indian Cinema. I can’t wait to rewatch this more often from now on because I truly have missed out all these years.
Not only is this India’s first time-travel film, it’s one of the best time-travel films ever made.
I saw Aditya 369 when I was super young so it’s been ages and I felt a rewatch was necessary. I sat down with my whole family and decided to relive this film and I was not expecting to fall in love with this film like this.
This film came out in 1991 which is only 6 years after Back to the Future, and its influence is clear but never does it feel like a cheap rip off. It’s as original, innovative, hilarious and ICONIC as Back to the Future. Singeetham Srinivas according to my parents has always been a filmmaker that never stuck to a specific genre or type of film. He’s an innovator and it’s so evident with this. It’s mind boggling what they were able to envision & achieve with this film almost 34 years ago.
Balakrishna in this film is unlike anything I’ve ever seen him. I’ve always felt Balakrishna is an extremely under utilized actor and he’s always kind of stuck to a certain type of genre, and revisiting this only made me stand with my opinion much stronger. He was so great in this. He was charming, funny and most surprisingly subtle. I loved watching him in this and he was just a delight. I used to love watching Tarun when I was a kid, but now going back as an adult and seeing him act when HE was a child was truly amazing. He’s sooooo adorable and just hilarious and confident. He felt as fresh and strong in his acting skills as a kid as any of the adults he was sharing screen space with.
Singeetham Srinivas crafts something truly epic in this film. He introduced the concept of a time-machine to the country and uses it to take us back into a fascinating walkthrough of Telugu culture and history. It’s such a smart utilization of the time travel concept as for someone like me who has no idea about this certain portion of the historical time period, found myself not only having fun but learning a lot as well. The sets & costumes were EPIC and just screamed old-school filmmaking throughout. When we go to the far dystopian future the innovations (and hilarious the predictions of certain things happening in today’s world) don’t stop. The whole idea of radiation due to the 3rd World War was hilariously & scarily meta in many ways. I loved it all. Although the climax is a bit rushed, it’s such a useless and minor complaint at the end of the day because of how magical, innovative, and fun this film is.
I truly think Aditya 369 should have a chapter in the history books of not only Telugu Cinema, but Indian Cinema. I still can’t fathom how they created those sets, costumes, and writing choices back then. We deserve a legacy sequel to this because it’s such an important film for Indian Cinema. I can’t wait to rewatch this more often from now on because I truly have missed out all these years.
