'Appudo Ippudo Eppudo', produced by BVSN Prasad, hits the cinemas today (November 9). In this section, we are going to review the latest box office release.
Plot:
Rishi (Nikhil Siddhartha) is a greenhorn racer who migrates to London from Hyderabad. Once in the foreign land, he runs into troubles, gets embroiled in a murder, and ends up complicating his blossoming relationship with his girlfriend Tara (Rukmini Vasanth). A funny don named Badri Narayana (John Vijay) and a hot lady named Tulasi (Divyansha Kaushik) befuddle him.
Post-Mortem:
'Screenplay-based movie' is a much-abused term. Most of our filmmakers throw around this term loosely and thoughtlessly when they believe the story is just a formality. In 'Appudo Ippudo Eppudo', the hyperlink technique comes to the fore somewhere in the second half. But, by then, the audience member is hyper-bored, struggling to find links between three different sets of characters.
This reviewer has always been puzzled by the exaggerated praise for director Sudheer Varma, who was once touted as the next Chandrasekhar Yeleti after the 2013 release of 'Swamy Ra Ra.' Eleven years later, his only accomplishment seems to be a consistent descent into desperate dullness. His duds like 'Ranarangam' at least scored on the technical front. With the film under review, there is no consolation prize even.
The Trailer of 'Appudo Ippudo Eppudo' was designed to deliberately mislead the audience. Our filmmakers love this a lot - misleading promotional material, random terms like 'screenplay-based movie', and torturing coincidences/red herrings to death. In the film under review, Rishi accidentally crosses paths with a conning character just when the latter needs a prey. You can excuse one or two such lame ideas, but a story packed with such inanities is not a story. It's a typical Telugu genre film.
In the early portions, a blunder by Viva Harsha's character leads to something unintended and outrageously funny. A few scenes later, the audience are told about this happenstance. A few minutes later, it becomes apparent that there was no point to the happenstance, as Rishi's life wouldn't have been any less boring and uninteresting even without it.
The narration goes back in time thrice. Two petty, comical thives (played by Satya and Sudharshan) narrate the story, complete with current affairs-related references like HYDRAA demolitions in Hyderabad. If the track looks forced, it's because it IS forced.
Rishi, like most of Sudheer Varma's nearly braindead protagonists, is vaguely written. Even themes like greed and existential crisis don't add colour to his off-colour character. Rishi struggles to evoke sympathy. The tone of the film is not only uneven but also designed to feel artificial. John Vijay's character is conceived more like a caricature, robbing the film of the needed seriousness. As someone with a weakness for women, he comes across as a doofus without self-control. It's hard to take your villain who doesn't take himself seriously, seriously. A female character ceases to seem like a real character after she spots a Rolls-Royce.
Richard Prasad's cinematography is decent. You can have complaints about Sunny MR's lacklustre background score but Karthik's 'Hey Taara' is a superb melody.
Closing Remarks:
'Appudo Ippudo Eppudo' will make you wish for an end to romantic crime thrillers once and for all.
