Garam Review

Our directors may give stepmotherly treatment to the heroine, our directors may ignore the story, our directors may forget the head and the tail, but one thing is for sure: no power on earth can make them ditch a comedian!  Such is their dedication towards a Brahmanandam, a Shakalaka Shankar, a Posani Krishna Murali, a Prithvi Raj, that they will not miss him anywhere, even in a climax where the protagonist is fighting for his life!  Brahmi has to come and get back his PK locket so that he can whizz off to his planet even as Varalu (Aadi) is fighting the villains in a scene that is supposed to be full of intensity and high on emotions.

Varalu is an irresponsible youngster, who has been bringing shame on his father (Tanikella Bharani) since childhood.  Ever since he was a child, he had developed dislike toward his friend Ravi (Chaitanya Krishna) as he had always been compared with him by his father.  As they grow up, Ravi lands a plum job in Hyderabad, while Varalu remains a jobless youth.  He moves to Hyderabad on the pretext of finding a job, but ends up following a Muslim girl, played by Adah Sharma, as he falls in love with her.

In a parallel narration, certain goons are hunting for someone.  Towards interval, it's revealed that Varalu is in Hyderabad on a mission and this involves Ravi.

It's a done-to-death story, an insipid formula, a listless narration, and a 'garam'-less item.

For God's sake, why don't our filmmakers see the fact that the audience are well past plots that involve a victimized hapless youth, who is salvaged by a gutsy hero who spends lesser time on finding the villain than on wooing his girl?  It's nothing exciting to watch a villain who has nothing much to do other than shout like a maniac.  Our audience are well past elements like a lucky hero fortuitously ending up being the heroine's neighbour.  Our audience are well past illogical ideas like the lover boy who is able to identify his girl among many hijab-clad women from a distance, but fails to identify her when sitting closest to her in a bus.

The first flashback episode is quite interesting and emotionally touching.  Naresh shines in the role of Ravi's father.  Aadi too shows flashes of his talent in these scenes.  If the tempo was maintained even after the flashback, the film would have been redeemed.  Adah should have been involved in the hero's mission earlier.  The second flashback is thanklessly outdated.

In a film with elements of revenge and crime thriller, it's inconceivable how the villains are reduced to such caricatures.

The comedy track involving Brahmanandam, Posani, Aadi, Shakalaka Shankar, and Madhu Nandan are jaded.

As performances go, everybody fits the bill.  Aadi should act in stories like Lovely and do some serious stuff instead of off-colour movies like this one.  Adah Sharma doesn't get to act much.  Kabir Dulhan is boring.  Naresh and Tanikella Bharani are good.

Agasthya's music is not helped by untimely and unwelcome songs.  Vijay Chakravarthy's cinematography is not worthy.

Verdict:  Nothing 'garam' about this half-baked action-drama.

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