Ee Nagariniki Emaindi - Movie Review

‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’, the sophomore directorial venture from Tharun Bhascker of ‘Pelli Choopulu’, focuses on four friends in Hyderabad: Vivek, Karthik, Upendra and Kaushik. Vivek is short filmmaker. His dream is to become a director but he doesn’t compromise on his story or vision and is also bogged down by self-doubt, apprehensions, fear of failing/losing. One of his friends is a cameraman and the other is good at editing. The fourth one is wannabe actor. A perfect filmy gang! Vivek (played by Vishwaksen Naidu) falls for a college beauty (Simran Chowdhary) and asks her to act in his short film. His short-temper and his ‘egoistic’ attitude kills their budding love. 

After she breaks-up with him, he turns alcoholic and doesn’t forget her. Four years later, another girl enters his life (Anisha Ambrose) and they head to Goa to make a short film while trying to mend issues between them.

Apart from the setting of ‘short-film movie making’, the wafer-thin plot and the screenplay and the tropes remind you of Farhan Akthar’s debut buddy film classic ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ (2001). Tharun Bhascker who wowed all with his debut romantic drama ‘Pelli Choopulu’ that has novelty factor and universal appeal has made this as a semi-autobiographical film. He too began his career with short films. However, he has not added anything new in the genre of buddy films. He is sort of (re)-introducing buddy genre to the Telugu audiences. In fact, “Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ ends up as emotion-less version of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’.

Except in the final sequences, there is no emotional anchor. The director wanders aimlessly in the beginning and indulges on jokes, sequences of actors’ introduction. Later he also introduces a subplot of his friend getting engaged to a club owner. The friend loses the costly engagement ring presented by his uncle. This subplot looks quite silly and is contrived. Entire Goa episode – ring getting lost, making short film to earn Rs 6 lakhs to buy similar ring is quite an outlandish idea.

However, he succeeds creating fun through dialogues and some hilarious scenes. The best scene here is: Vivek (Vishwaksen Naidu) boozing while his friend Kaushik (Abhinav Gomatam) gives him company with smile on his face. Abhinav steals the show here. His comedy works well, even when Tharun Bhasckar over-indulges in sequences that have no major value.

There is this great Korean movie director Hong Sang-soo whose films mostly center around a protagonist (male/female) related to the movie world and in his movies the lead actors indulges in drinking mostly and in casual conversation. Tharun Bhascker’s protagonist is also (short) filmmaker and he is boozes excessively (from opening sequence to the end cards, he drinks and drinks) and indulges in banter (mostly inside jokes). Like the movie’s protagonist, much of the film goes aimlessly. However, the dialogue writing is sharp and the natural conversation among the actors evokes good laughs. The actors speak in Telangana slang with a dash of humor.

The right casting has saved the film. Vishwaksen as the protagonist and Abhinav as his funny friend are perfect. Abhinav is the real scene stealer. The other two actors (Sushanth Reddy and Venkatesh) are good too. Anisha Ambrose in small role impresses. Simran Chowdhary gives good performance.

The film has good cinematography. Of Vivek Sagar’s songs, ‘Agu Agu’ impresses. Pace of the movie is slow and editing lacks tautness. Production values are neat.

Tharun Bhascker shows his skill in dialogue-writing. He has dedicated this film to all the short filmmakers. He drives the point that it is important to lead life with gang of friends with laughs and banter than craving for money.

Bottom-line: Tharun Bhascker’s ‘Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ has some fun moments but this buddy flick is marred by the director’s overindulgence. The director’s semi-autobiographical is more like a ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ with too much of booze and banter. There is also ‘Hangover’ inspiration.