Sumanth's Mahendragiri Varahi hit screens on September 11, and the verdict so far is nowhere close to unanimous. 123telugu gave it 2.75 out of 5, calling it a film that "has its moments" but stumbles on logic and technical polish. Telugu Filmibeat's own review was far less kind, describing it as a half-baked devotional drama that squanders a genuinely interesting premise.

The story hangs a curse from Goddess Varahi over the Mahendragiri royal line, men in the family dying the moment they turn 33. Sumanth plays Siddharth, a Hyderabad YouTuber who debunks scams and superstition for a living, and who gets pulled into investigating the deaths after his own brother Rajiv, played by Kamal Kamaraju, becomes a casualty. Siddhu Jonnalagadda shows up in a cameo as Rajendra Varma, a royal who dies on his 33rd birthday right in front of the audience, and both reviews single him out for making an impression despite the limited runtime.

Where the two trade reviews line up is on the opening stretch. 123telugu says the film "starts on a good note," with the interval twist landing well and the climax tying things up neatly. Filmibeat agrees that the first half has scenes that work, but says director Santhosh Jagarlapudi can't sustain that momentum, and that the second-half twists get so far removed from anything believable that what was meant to shock plays out as unintentional comedy.

Both outlets flag the same weak spot: the writing doesn't bother explaining why the goddess's intervention only shows up right at the end, after generations of unexplained deaths. 123telugu calls it convenient. Filmibeat is blunter, saying the film's twists never manage to convince on their own logic.

Twitter reaction, gathered by Telugu Filmibeat, splits along similar lines. One viewer handed it 3.5 out of 5, praising Anup Rubens' background score and calling it a worth your time mystery thriller start to finish. Another said the writing felt outdated and the three-hour runtime dragged, admitting they kept checking when it would end. A third viewer leaned positive, saying the devotional touch paired with the twists kept things interesting through the first half in particular.

On the technical side, cinematographer Pratap R Krishna's devotional sequences and the VFX built around Goddess Varahi's scenes get consistent praise across both reviews. What draws criticism is everything built around AI-assisted effects elsewhere in the film, which 123telugu says gets "irritating" rather than immersive. The film also promotes Aishwarya Rajesh's role heavily in its marketing, something 123telugu says undercuts a reveal that should have landed harder on the big screen.

Meenakshi Goswami, Malvika Nair, Brahmanandam, Vennela Kishore and Rajeev Kanakala round out a supporting cast that both reviews describe as competent without being memorable. Anup Rubens' score comes out as the film's most consistently praised element, whether from critics or the Twitter crowd.

With reviews this divided, the real test lands over the weekend, when word of mouth from theatres, not review scores, decides whether Mahendragiri Varahi holds its screens into a second week.