Chuttalabbai Review

The writer knew that some character will have to say, "She may have left this house, but is very much there in your heart", at some crucial point.  But only director Veerabhadram could have conceived a screenplay in which the scene comes not only undone, but also remains unregistered.  Such are the times that a comedic bully-turned-meek heroine-fan like Prudhvi is over-indulged, but a father-cum-village headman (predisposed to invoke village patriotism, out of the blue, in the climax) like Sai Kumar is left to become a mere footnote.

Recovery Babjee (Aadi, always on the verge of lighting up his face - and only his face - with a smile) has a way with recovering bad debts for HDFC.  He crosses paths with Kavya (Namitha Pramod), the sister of the city's trigger-happy ACP (played by Abhimanyu Singh, another given-a-short-shrift character in this accidentally-has-a-story-line flick).  His troubles begin when the cop confuses Babjee to be his sister's boy friend.  By a quirk of fate, they both unwittingly give an impression that they are eloping.  The cop gets his juniors to chase them.  There is another group, supposed to be cops, out to snatch Kavya away from Babjee.  Meanwhile, the director has a half-hearted dalliance with a silly flashback involving Babjee-father duo, besides a will-she-accept-my-love-proposal 'tamasha'.  Everything culminates into a climax where Ali is silly and the fight, light-touch...

'Chuttalabbayi' is a parody of a parody's parody:

1.  A mistress who lusts the hero in the presence of the comedy villain

2.  A 'Kidnap' Krish (by Ali) drama that is nothing but an excuse for forcing the usual suspects (punch lines of Pawan and Mahesh, what else?) down our troubled throats

3.  A conflict point ("Tanuku asalu pellante ne ishtam ledu".  Give us a break!!) that hardly sticks

4.  A hero who doesn't think twice before chopping off a finger, but is cautious enough to avoid nuisance that could follow him pulling a train chain!

5.  First, the cop-brother is forgotten.  Then, the friends (Shakalaka Shankar & gang) are forgotten.

Sai Kumar scraping through a lame script is nothing surprising; he has always almost retained his standard regardless of how badly the script dumps him.  Prudhvi (as Mr. EGo, meaning E Goverdhan Reddy) has of late been the one to rely on when there is "a screenplay but no story" (incidentally, this one is a line from the other release of the day).  There is an overdose of him and that's not welcome.  Vamsi Krishna's talent deserves better roles/films.

Aadi spends a good amount of time bestowing upon us his stock expressions.  Veerabhadram could have better utilized his talent.  Namitha Pramod lacks the grace that a Tollywood heroine needs.  She is better off in some of the numbers, though.

SS Thaman's music and background score are a plus in a film whose final score nets anyways in the negative territory.  Cinematography is another department that scores well.  The stunt sequence where the hero grounds all thugs without creating noise comes with a good idea and a less-than-impressive execution.

Verdict: A largely listless script.  Prudhvi manages to tickle the funny bone here and there.  Sai Kumar's character could have been more important.  Thaman's work is a plus.

చుట్టాలబ్బాయి తెలుగు వెర్షన్ మూవీ రివ్యూ