Pelli Choopulu was a refreshing feel-good, rom-com which can be dubbed as an extension of Shekhar Kammula coming of the age entertainers. What made it even more special was the Telangana dialect spoken by the lead cast and the repartee among friends’ conversations, that evoked slice of life humor. Tarun Bhaskar continuing his stride comes up with yet another such movie, featuring new faces again
Ee Nagaranki Emayyindhi starts with a ‘difference-of-opinion’ argument in a car, about a short film, among four friends. Owing to a heated argument among themselves while driving in a car, they thump against a tree on the roadside, losing control of the steering. The story here fast forwards to 4 years later where four short stories from four different walks of life are introduced to us.
The list starts with a photographer-editor Upendra aka Uppi (Venkatesh Kakumanu) who works hard for running errands, even being deprived of sleep. He mistakenly touches the hand of a girl for a mouse, that is sitting next to him, as an effect of his condition, then there is Kaushik (Abhinav Gomatam), who dubs for chimps and gorillas in a discovery channel and on the other side fantasizes to be an actor. The third one, Karthik (Sai Sushanth Reddy) works in a pub and aspires to settle in the US, availing his boss’ jackpot offer of starting a club in the US. The fourth guy, Vivek (Vishwak Sen), an aspiring filmmaker and the head of the here-after short film unit. He is someone who does not mind losing his job by going to the office drunk.
What connects these four is their unflinching and long-living friendship. They are lifetime buddies, willing to do anything for each other. Their melancholic and despondent lives are layered with fun and they have no qualms in incessantly pulling each other legs and poke fun at each other at any given point.
Amidst this bonding, there is a girl, who enters Vivek’s life only to leave him lovelorn. This makes him an averse for romance and love, which is demonstrated through a couple of incidents where he is asked to direct a love story and he opposes it with an aggressive outburst. The friends hang out at a bar on an evening and head to Goa after a splurge of an over drunk activity. They engross themselves in the serenity of Goa with fun and frolic. Certain incidents flow leading to a phase of self-realization.
What forms the rest of the story is how they make their dreams come true battling all the apprehensions and insecurities they have in life that hindered them to be a better version of themselves.
The movie is rumored, to be an unofficial biopic of Tarun Bhaskar. It could be a revisit to his short filmmaking days. The story is an out and out jolly ride that paints a tale of friendship among four close buddies on Hyderabad and Goa canvas. The light-hearted organic humor keeps the movie flowing at a good pace. The dialogues are crisp and situational. Most of them either invoke fun or convey an emotion. The first half meanders aimlessly at some places and in the name of truth and a dare game, the story appears like a convergence of different situations that happened in their lives but the second half gets busy with the objective of the movie after the team gets serious about making a short film. The movie explicates the travails of wannabe filmmakers and their life situations. When it comes to the genre and the narration, the movie has clear shades from Bollywood movies like Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara, Dil Chahatha Hein, and Venkat Prabhu’s buddy movies. It’s not just that we even have our own version of Premji, Abhinav, in the assortment.
Technically, the movie is tad good. The sync sound, the anamorphic lenses and the worked well to bring to life a lively and exuberant movie. The introduction scene composed of slo-mo shots is well picturized and is a laugh riot even after during the second watch of the movie. The visuals are good and tunes by Vivek Sagar are soothing.
Abhinav entertained with his humorous antics being the laughing stock of the group while Sai Sushant, as an overambitious practical person and Vishwak Sen insecure and vulnerable guy delivered a subtle performance. Upendra as a reluctant and diffident guy is okay in his given screen presence.
Overall, the movie, as mentioned by the makers, is a joyous affair, if watched with a group of close friends.
