Guntur Talkies - Movie Review

Story:

Hari (Siddu) and Giri (Naresh) belong to lower middle-class.  They work as low-end salesmen at a medical shop owned by a greedy guy (Gundu Sudershan).  None knows that they have a secret life.  While returning from their work on every dreary day, they excitingly do petty thievery.  While Hari keeps egging Giri 'anna' to do something big, Giri doesn't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  "We are out because we don't steal big things," Giri says. 

However, Giri ends up stealing Rs. 5 lakh without his knowledge. At a time when he plans to run away from the town along with his two school-going sons and old mother, he is caught.  Giri and Hari fall in trouble because what they have stolen is important for CI Ranjith Kumar, played by Raghu Babu. On the other hand, they have more trouble coming in the form of don Jackie (Mahesh Manjrekar).

The rest of the film is about how Giri and Hari extricate themselves from a script that is not of their making. Or of any one character in particular.  

Analysis: 

The movie begins with the close shot of bum of a kid who is waiting his father (played by Naresh) to clean it. The scene lasts nearly five minutes and they talk about bum. Sounding crass? Well, 'Guntur Talkies' directed by Praveen Sattaru, has such scenes aplenty. In most part of the movie the lead actors talk in abashed street language. I have lost count of how many times the word bum (with the exact meaning of Telugu word) used in the movie. 

The director has made couple of good movies but his last movie, Chandamama Kathalu that won National Award for Best Regional Film, didn't do well at the box-office. So, he seems to have targeted to attract the mass audiences with liberal dose tempting sex scenes and street language.

Though it is crime comedy, half of the movie runs on the sexual escapades of hero Siddhu, who two times with an elder sister and younger sister (Rashmi Goutham).

In telling a comedy of confusions, Praveen Sattaru has banked more upon the characters, Hari and Giri.  Siddu and Naresh carry the first half on their shoulders. However, they come across as an overdose as the film progresses. Half way into the film, you root for one more strong character to step in and make the proceedings interesting.  Mahesh Manjrekar's character is rendered weak, if not inconsequential. The portions involving him, Raghu Babu, and Revolver Rani (Shradha Das) in the second half should have been more substantial. 

To the director's credit, he manages to amuse the adults here and there.  For example, Naresh as the middle-aged man whose wife eloped suffers from sexual frustration and the same is portrayed unabashedly.  Siddu's affair with a housewife is another element that is depicted in and in-your-face fashion. 

Rashmi Gautam as Suvarna is suggestive. This is her bold role. All she does in the movie is to tease hero and the male audiences sitting in the theatres. The dream song is shot erotically. Also Rashmi Gautam is very beautiful and sexy. She has done this role perfectly.

Although the adult content and the language can be viewed as progressive way of filmmaking but the problem is the comedy is downright crass. And the sex scenes are more of voyeuristic nature.

If Revolver Rani's rape of Hari is pretty much permissive, Hari asking Giri about the elopement of the latter's wife while voyeuristically viewing a sexual act is adult entertainment at its unrestrained self.  Guntur Talkies works in bits and pieces. But when viewed as a story, it feels like a half-baked scheme.

Among the cast, Siddu is okay but Naresh has given his best. Mahesh Manjrekar generates good laughs in the second half. Shradha Das as Revolver Rani fits the bill. Ram Reddy's cinematography is the best, technically. Charan Pakala's BGM is okay. The songs are intertwined with the narration.  

Verdict: Guntur Talkies is crime comedy thriller with liberal dose of sex scenes, crass comedy and street language.