Highlights
- Fahadh Faasil delivers a sincere performance in his first Telugu film as a solo lead
- Don’t Trouble the Trouble has a promising fantasy concept but struggles with its execution
- Ssara Palekar is a standout as Divya, a young girl with supernatural powers
- The film’s pacing and humour weaken its emotional impact
- At 2 hours and 38 minutes, the film feels longer than it needs to be
Don’t Trouble the Trouble has an intriguing idea at its centre. What happens when a street magician who has spent his life pretending to have supernatural powers meets a child who actually possesses them?
Directed by Shashank Yeleti, the fantasy follows Suri, played by Fahadh Faasil, a small-time magician and con artist in Hyderabad. His life changes when he meets Divya, a young girl whose supernatural abilities become difficult to control whenever she is angry.
The premise has all the ingredients for a warm fantasy about an unlikely friendship. But while the film occasionally captures that charm, it struggles to maintain the momentum needed to make the story truly magical.
Fahadh Faasil is the film’s biggest strength
Fahadh is easily the best thing about Don’t Trouble the Trouble. His performance as Suri is sincere, understated and technically impressive, particularly because he is performing entirely in Telugu, a language he does not think in.
Suri is a likeable character, but the role does not give Fahadh the moral complexity or emotional depth seen in some of his strongest performances. The actor brings more to the character than the writing provides.
Ssara Palekar, however, is a genuine discovery. She brings a natural quality to Divya and never feels like a child actor trying to perform for an adult audience. Her scenes with Fahadh form the emotional centre of the film.
The supporting cast, including Saurabh Sachdeva, Subbaraju, Venkatesh Kakumanu and Mahesh Manjrekar, is less successful, with several characters left underwritten.
The fantasy struggles to find its rhythm
The biggest problem with Don’t Trouble the Trouble is its pacing. A fantasy involving a con artist and a magical child needs a sense of surprise and discovery, but the film takes too long to get moving.
The relationship between Suri and Divya is built carefully, but their scenes often return to the same emotional territory without enough variation. The comedy also fails to land consistently, which takes away much of the energy the story needs.
The result is a film that feels longer than its 2-hour-38-minute runtime. The second half, in particular, would have benefited from tighter editing and a faster pace.
The technical aspects are more uneven. Brad Francis’ cinematography gives Hyderabad a warm, lived-in look, while the visual effects are competent without being particularly spectacular. The production design also works well in creating a believable setting.
Kaala Bhairava’s music adds some tenderness, although the background score cannot always compensate for the screenplay’s lack of momentum.
A promising idea that needed sharper execution
There are moments in Don’t Trouble the Trouble that show what the film could have been. Its central idea is appealing, Fahadh commits fully to the role and Ssara Palekar makes a strong impression.
But the film never quite turns those ingredients into a consistently engaging fantasy. The sluggish pacing, underwritten antagonist and uneven humour keep it from reaching the emotional payoff its premise promises.
Fahadh’s performance deserves credit, particularly for taking on his first Telugu film as a solo lead. Yet the film around him does not always give him enough to work with.
Don’t Trouble the Trouble is not without charm, but its promising concept ultimately struggles to take flight.
