Director G Eshwar Reddy had a checklist to be exhausted with a proud tick every time he followed a pedestrian template. Having a parody of Pawan Kalyan, Baahubali, Balayya babu, NTR – tick. Cameo by Jabardasth's comedians – tick. Gay comedy – tick. Item song(s) – tick. ‘Mandhu’ comedy (courtesy: Tagubothu Ramesh) – tick. Bar song – tick. Snake comedy – tick. Everything done, he forgets to make selfie comedy an integral element of the screenplay.
'Selfie' Raja (Allari Naresh) has a weakness for selfies, but that is only a part of the problem. As Sharwanand (voice over) says, he has 'noti doola' as well. He falls in love with Kamna Ranawat at first sight and tries to gloat that he is the most wanted by the daughter of the City Commissioner (Nagineedu), unbeknownst of the fact that the girl he is boasting to is the Commissioner's daughter herself. Nagineedu likes Raja's innocuous ways and gives his daughter in marriage to him. A mysterious 'gift' makes its way into the newly wed couple's bed room. The explosive letter and morphed pics featuring Raja with a lady do their marriage in.
Comically frustrated at the unexpected turn of events, Raja tries to kill himself and in the process hires a contract killer (Ravi Babu in a comedy goonda's role), paying the latter for his own death. Meanwhile, Raja's wife comes to know of her hubby's innocence and the couple patch up (a flash of sentimentality here, please). However, Raja's troubles multiply from now when a look-alike, a comedy baddie, enters the scene.
Armed with only parodies, the director dishes out a caricature of a film. One too many characters have been force-fit into the narration with the only aim of reminding the audience of some other movie, and never this film. Between them, Prudhvi as SI Ankusham (spoofing punch lines of mass stars), Ravi Babu as Mams (a contract killer with no means to fight back, thanks to the silly sidekicks, led by Sathya), and Shakalaka Shankar as Katraj (glorifying his pet snakes as legends) overshadow not one, but two Nareshs.
Naresh, on his part, gets NTR's 'Nannaku Prematho' get-up and the geometry right. If that's witty enough (and situational), going back in time as far back as 'Khushi' to bank upon Pawan Kalyan's craze is a bit too much.
Despite two heroines for the two avatars, neither Kamna nor Sakshi Chowdary interact with him except when it is time for a skin show-stuffed song.
As for the baddies, everybody is a fool waiting to be conned ridiculously. Fine. This one was meant to be a comedy that has nothing to do with commonsense. But imagine a drunkard (Tagubothu Ramesh always eager to do a Katappa in the presence of 'Selfie' Raja) enticing buffoonic baddies with 'quarters', that too in the climax. Is it not only an old-fashioned idea, but also too small to be had in the climax?
'Diamond' Ratna Babu's dialogues help the film work in bits and pieces. Krishna Bhagawan and his wife as 'sound engineers' together deliver goods. Quirky characters themselves are at the receiving end of other quirky characters.
Allari Naresh tickles the funny bone with his comic timing. His spontaneity matters in a film like this. This is a film with too many comedy 'heroes', some overstaying their welcome, some unwelcome. One feels Naresh should have got a better place in the scheme of things. Kamna looks rollicking in the songs, so also Sakshi.
Sai Karthik's music passes muster. The other technical departments do an OK job.
Verdict: A film full of parodies, the director's only idea seems to have been to do a checklist full of things. Too formulaic to be taken seriously, 'Selfie Raja' is a comedy of confusion that confuses the idea of comedy with the obsession called parody.
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