Bandipotu Review

When it is someone like Indraganti Mohan Krishna who is the director, the least that you expect is no character is there without a reason.  Seemingly carried away by the social media-created (pseudo-) star Sampoornesh Babu’s outrageous popularity, the presumably sensible director resorts to low brow sensationalism by casting him where not required.  Indraganti consciously made him appear important for the film in the wall posters/trailers.  It’s almost certain that this packaging is going to misfire

Comedy is not the cup of tea of most of the unconventional directors.  They have a smug idea of humour and more often than not fail to catch the average audience’s jocular pulse.  For some mysterious reason, they sometimes are tempted to make a vain attempt to cast a top comedy-hero in the industry in a new light.  Nine out of 10 times, they fail for this reason, among others.

Vishwanath (Allari Naresh) is a self-proclaimed God’s chosen swindler.  Jahnavi (Eesha), a complete stranger, is impressed by his hoodwinking tactics and drafts him for the task of making fools out of Seshagiri (Rao Ramesh), Makaranda Rao (Tanikella Bharani) and Bhale Babu (Posani Krishna Murali).  These three had backstabbed her father Sathyanarayana (Subhaleka Sudhakar in a cameo) many years ago.  Jahnavi now seeks her comeuppance.  Vishwanath has to now use his cunning to make the villains cough up as much as possible and return honour to Jahnavi’s father.  In this mission, he has only his ‘bandhipotu’ brain in his armoury.

How this ‘bandhipotu’ brain works will leave you jaded when the third villain has to be punished.  Making the much-hyped ‘bandhipotu’ win the biggest mission of his life by employing the tricks of a sting journalist is, to say the least, poverty of imagination.

This is one improper comedy-drama that remotely feels Allari Naresh.  Over the years, Naresh has evolved a style of his own, his kind of funny lines are everyone’s favourite.  While this style goes missing here, Indraganti makes the often rib-tickling actor become somewhat serious.  Was he thinking of an image makeover for his hero?

We see Naresh as Allari in just one scene and that’s in the climax when he says, “Audi, Benz, Scorpio.. anni teesukorandi..” when Posani collapses in a state of shock.  The songs might have been directed at an entirely different audience, an audience who have no idea of Naresh’s image.  The locales are so beautiful and the songs so romantic that they seem like tools in the hands of a conspirator out to make Naresh look like a chocolate boy instead of a self-deprecating, guy-next-door dude.

While Sampoo is seen laughing like a childlike Dasari Narayana Rao in a scene or two in the second half, Avasarala Srinivas insults himself by playing a low brow character that makes no sense at all.  As Cheekati, he gets to speak the Avasarala Telugu in a scene but as if to undo the good takeaway in the first half, he is seen saying to Tanikella later, “Ipudu TV lo LIVE choodandi.”  It’s a sorry thing to see the thinking audience’s actor such as him in a sidekick’s role doing inconsequential spying.

There is an item song broadcast on a news channel, even as the whole State, including the CM is shell-shocked at Posani’s depraved night life.  Sapthagiri is there as the news reporter-cum-presenter and entertains in a scene.

Tanikella tries a quirky avatar here, reminiscent of a yesteryear role he played in the 1990s.  He looks menacing and sadistic to begin with, but falls into Naresh’s trap in a funny way.  This is an interesting episode and stands out of the entire film.  The pre-interval scene involving Rao Ramesh and Naresh is another good one, raising the temp, only to be whittled down thanklessly soon after the interval.

Eesha hardly has much to do except look gorgeously in those prohibitively romantic songs.  The hero is accomplishing her revenge, but she is hardly seen around except on the sidelines.  You expect to see her deriving pleasure (say, by rubbing salt into Seshagiri and Makarandam’s wounds) as one villain of her life after another meets the shock of his life.  However, she is busy inflicting yet another situation for a song by feeling shy in front of the hero!

If Rao Ramesh goes overboard in a scene or two, Posani aptly asks in a scene, "Nenemaina extra chesana?"

Technically, the music and the cinematography don’t pass muster.  It’s sub-par art work.

Verdict: A script that needed was meant to be an intelligent mind game ends up looking like a half-baked comedy.

Film Duration: 2hr 20 min.

Rating: 2.25/5

తెలుగు రివ్యూ కోసం ఇక్కడ క్లిక్ చేయండి