‘Pelli Choopulu’ does something very important that most feel goods forget to do. It makes you feel happy. Guess it’s one of the most fool proof films to have come in recent years, that’s why it has been remade in most of the languages with Tamil too in the offing. With Harish Kalyan and Priya Bhavani Shankar, it looks like a solid bet which would definitely woo the audience. Comparisons can’t be drawn with Vijay Deverakonda and Ritu Varma combo because it felt like they were made for this film but the Tamil combo too seems to be just as nice as them.
Watching Vijay Deverakonda in this film, especially post ‘Arjun Reddy’ is a revelation of its own. In the same way watching Ritu Varma in any film post ‘Kanum Kanum’ is a revelation too. May be if I had watched the film before watching these two movies, I’d have liked it even more. The hype too played spoilt sport here. One of my friends said it’ll be as good as ‘Premam’. Maybe he didn’t know at what heights I had held ‘Premam’, so naturally anything less than spectacular disappoints me. Nevertheless, it was just as fine a film to be watched with anyone. My mom who watches films in the midst of her kitchen work was more glued to the film than her work in kitchen. That according to me is the biggest compliment for the director.
Tharun Bhascker released this film in 2016. He would have been twenty-eight at max at that time. It’s good to see a young filmmaker making a no-nonsense film instead of trying to make something which is rebellious. That was the first relief. And he made this feel-good film just right. There is no pressure to see what the debutant director has done differently. It made me forget about the intricacies and enjoy the movie in peace.
The movie had a solid opening sequence while lead to a great first half. What I thought would be just a small scene in the room actually ended up to be the entire first half. Also, the first half twist was beautiful which leads to a great interval block. With a first half this good, the second half had to be equally brilliant but it falls short in that aspect. The food truck concept reminds us of ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’. Even though the mood of both the film is different, the concept feels familiar. It couldn’t match Bittoo and Shruti level of madness. Prashanth (Vijay Deverakonda) and Chitra (Ritu Varma) are people who are more grounded.
The coincidence in their backstories too was sweet and believable. One of the problem points in flashback stories is the connection. That too this film involves two flashbacks so to connect it is even tougher. But they do it so beautifully. Even the editing is seamless and not pain in the eye. After a not so interesting second half, a predictable climax happens where the emotions are just right so that it only ends making us empathizing with the lead pair rather then becoming a tear jerker.
Only in recent past I watched ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ without any clue and was might impressed with it. May be if I had not known about the directors and didn’t yield to the hype, I might have enjoyed it the best.
Not everyday does a proper buddy movie happen, which sparks up the nostalgia in a pleasant way and reminds us of good old days. Most of the time its overdone with drugs, crass humour and face cringing moments. Buddy movies easily become boys-only B-grade movie. But here in ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ whose title even I couldn’t pronounce or couldn’t type without referring Wikipedia comes out as a sweet buddy movie which doesn’t overdo in any aspect. General comments are that people who don’t understand Telugu couldn’t appreciate it but just with subtitles, the film lured me in into it. Such was its honesty.
Of course, the jokes would have worked even better for Telugu audience but the film was not only about that, the entire feel was lovely. Generally, makers of this genre don’t take such films seriously. Like how comic horrors are made, even buddy movies would be done to satisfy momentarily but not something to keep in mind and go back. Take any film for example, it’d not invoke nostalgia but only fun. ‘Boys’, ‘Hangover’, ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’ etc. being prime examples. Even a movie like ‘Sideways’ which is being hailed as one of the greatest in this genre too overdoes it. It’s way too dramatic to appreciate it. The focus shifts from feel to filmmaking. It would inspire more movie enthusiasts than casual movie watchers.
Like I recently saw in one of the director’s roundtable, most of the second film of directors are actually what they would have wanted to make it first. But due to a variety of factors it doesn’t happen as they had to pitch in a commercially viable project first up, only then they can at least enter the industry. Maybe it could have been same for Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam, maybe not. But whatever it is, it worked for him. Otherwise this movie would have been shooed off saying that its just a regular newcomer movie. Another good thing about the film is it didn’t take the ‘coming of age’ angle too seriously, which has now become a beaten to death concept, until and unless its an Imtiaz Ali – Ranbir Kapoor combo, it’s not something that could be nailed effectively, it’ll only become another nail in the coffin. Only around the climax it goes into that angle but it was diluted efficiently by good writing and relatable acting.
The film opens with few friends on a car, talking about a script that they want to make into a film, the dog dialogues I’m sure would have been more funny to hear than to be read, gets into a ‘Soodhu Kavvum’ (auto scene to be precise) kind of jinx with a dog and the title card appears post that. Cited as a quirky entertainer, the film looked like it’ll take the angle of ‘Soodhu Kavvum’ but it doesn’t. We see a brilliant opening sequence with Karthik (Sai Sushanth Reddy) giving sweet insults to few boys who wants to enter the pub. The beauty of the scene is it’s not glamourized either ways. Generally, if it’s a Dhanush or a normal guy’s film we’d have been there at the other end. But here we’re seeing it from Karthik’s point of view. As much as his dialogues are insulting, it’s not heroic, we don’t see him as a negative character in whom life has taken its toll. He’s fine with what he’s doing. Not even fine, he’s happy doing what he’s doing. No regrets. And we don’t feel any regret too seeing him like that. The director has to be lauded right away for such an unapologetically life like scene. (The interiors where he meets the boss, the diamond ring, boss’s get up, kind of reminded me of ‘The Great Gatsby’. Am I the only one here?)
Karthik actually gives a feel like he’s the hero of the film, but till the end, we can’t really decide whether he’s the hero or Vivek (Vishwak Sen) is because the latter is the one who actually gets a heroine angle to him. That’s a success too. Generally, a film like this would have had a 1 + 3 equation but here even though we can’t really find a complete four-person story, it at least is a good 2 + 2 story where we feel the other two friends too aren’t very inferior.
Sai Sushanth Reddy who was honest with his acting ‘Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru’ is honest here too. Like how in ‘Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru’, even though he’s the hero, he lets the other two score, here too he doesn’t overdo it and that’s why could bring the equation to 2 + 2. It’s becoming an endangered trait among heroes now. Otherwise, it’d have been like a Maddy character explaining about the other two friends in ‘3 Idiots’.
The whole process of the friends meeting up and Vivek getting to pub couldn’t outrightly defined as a comedy but it wasn’t a serious scene too. Credit has to be given both for writing and acting by Vishwak Sen for absorbing those details. It very much resembles bringing in Zach Galifianakis for Stu’s bachelor party but thankfully the movie didn’t turn ‘The Hangover’ way and the sequence too wasn’t a comical one. As much as I like ‘The Hangover’ scene, here it was beautiful in not letting us know whether Vivek has to be taken seriously or not.
The next sequence in pub is a good way to bringing in flashback and the way Shirley (Anisha Ambrose) enters and the boys casually talk with her is another welcome relief from a regular guy movie. In any other movies, this scene would have had a slow mo of the girl, and the guys drooling for her. Here not even a single comment gets passed about her physique, in fact the comedian of the gang Kaushik (Abhinav Gomatam) accepts for the interview because she offers free shots and not because of her looks. All said and done, Anisha Ambrose looks ravishing, not only in that scene but in entire movie. The last I saw this good costume design was for Alia Bhatt in ‘Dear Zindagi’.
We get to know the story through flashback and it’s a fairly interesting one and the interview doesn’t look like just an excuse too to tell the back story. It actually works. The other girl Shilpa (Simran Choudhary) too being a confident girl was a welcome relief. The respect to female characters in the movie is something that needs to be appreciated. Even though she breaks up with him, she doesn’t get bitched about by others.
The Goa episode and the Kaushik track reminds heavily of ‘Goa’. Maybe it was intentional too, I’m not sure. But it doesn’t do the mistake which ‘Goa’ does. ‘Goa’ almost overdoes every single tool to evoke humour. In the end it was so exhausting and felt like one should really need to go to Goa to come out of the exhaustion the movie caused. But unlike Premji’s comedy there, the Kaushik track in the film was such a laugh riot, reason being it was so natural. In fact, even though Uppi (Venkatesh Kakumanu) doesn’t have much to do, his silent presence makes a mark too.
The ‘Premam’ effect is quite visible in cinematography as well as the feel of the movie. It didn’t work in ‘Raja Varu Rani Gaaru’ but here it does. The way the friends stick together here are natural. Even though the fights between Kaushik and Vivek gets us on edge and make us feel that they’d never talk going further, they don’t mind that much. May be Karthik and Uppi are aware of the fact, that’s why they don’t get much involved and try to stop them from fighting. These are all minute details the director has taken from life. These things can’t be taught or learnt.
If I’d have liked one change in the film, I’d have let Vivek get married in the way he thought. For once it could have been a practical end. One need not have to let go so that the movie can end in a liberating feel. He could have still been married may be not with utmost satisfaction but also not with utmost disappointment too. He could have married because he had felt that to be right. Not every buddy movie has to have a marriage being called off. It worked in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ but I’d have preferred otherwise here.
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