Guntur Talkies Review

The greatest item film that many filmmakers ever fell in love with is, unarguably, Delhi Belly.  It opened up new vistas for those looking for indulging in everything that was not considered sexy earlier.  Praveen Sattaru takes some inspiration from such cinematic idiom for sure.  Guntur Talkies was always sought to put low-brow glamour over substance and indulgently so.

Siddu (Hari) and Naresh (Giri) are 'gumasthas' in a medical shop owned by Gundu Sudarshan.  By the day, they feign innocence.  By the night, they are petty thieves.  Their relationship is sans emotions.  While Hari has an affair with a housewife, Giri leads a nondescript life.  Always belittled and demeaned by his old mother as a 'vedhava' whose wife eloped four years ago, he has none to fall back on for entertainment (read boozing) except Hari.  One fateful day, they happen to steal Rs. 5 lacs from the house of CI Ranjith Kumar (Raghu Babu).  This leads to a series of tricky situations for them and as in all comedies of confusion, a raft of quirky characters have a stake in them or what they have with them.

The writer perhaps thought that too much of quirkiness and zilch emotions is sexy.  It isn't.  For one, Guntur Talkies is an insipid story line.  For another, the screenplay isn't tight either.

There are a few elements for which a section of the audience will find takers.  However, too much of the same doesn't make sense.  It's OK if a Fish Venkat is seen playing a dumb henchman (nothing unseen-before about it).  It's not funny to watch Dr. Ravi Prakash trying to tickle the funny bone, though.  It's funny to watch Gundu Sudershan being fooled by his mischievous 'gumasthas'.  It's not funny to watch Kadapa factionists fooling around.

Rashmi as Suvarna perks up the film's glamour quotient from word go.  She showing her love for Siddu is perhaps the film's only emotional element.  As for the sensuous number, it's well-shot.

Mahesh Manjrekar's character doesn't raise the tempo any more -  a major weakness of the film.  Raghu Babu, the cop having the film's third extra-marital affair (after Siddu and Naresh's wife), and Raja Ravindra fail to make the game exciting.

As performances go, Naresh and Siddu walk out with laurels.  Naresh is bang on as a sexually frustrated middle-aged man, who reads soft porn in toilet after crying at seeing Siddu's romance with Rashmi.  Siddu is good in the role of a youngster with no scruples.  Shraddha Das as Revolver Rani is bold.  Raghu Babu, Raja Ravindra, Snigdha, Tagubothu Ramesh, and others don't make much of an impact.  Fish Venkat is a trivial exception, though.

Ram Reddy's cinematography makes the film a nice spectacle.  Sri Charan Pakala's music passes muster.  The BGM is apt, though.

Verdict: A done-to-death idiom, all that Guntur Talkies has to offer are doses of over-indulgent doubles entendres.

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