Adhugo

Story: Bunty, the little pink piglet is the apple of Chanti’s (Sathwik) eye. But what happens when this innocent little creature is embroiled with people who each have their own agenda to seek?

Review: Ravi Babu’s Diwali offering Adhugo released after a wait of three long years. Much was said and done about the little piglet being the hero of this tale and the centre of attention all through. While that is certainly true when it comes to the basic premise, there is a lot the little 3D animated piglet is put through before it gets to be the hero of this tale. Interjected in this story are numerous tales, multiple characters and some unnecessary song and dance – all crammed into a span of less than two hours.

Bunty is a little piglet living a content life with his human friend Chanti (Satwik). Abhishek (Abhishek Verma) is trying to apologise to his girlfriend Raji (Nabha Natesh) for far too many things that have gone wrong in their relationship. Six Pack Shakti (Ravi Babu) is a fitness enthusiast cum goonda who’s looking for the piglet with an agenda of his own. Mixed into the tale are also Gutka Gangaraju and Sharjah Shankar who want the piglet to compete in illegal animal racing. With so many people after its life, will Bunty find a way to safely make it back home? While the story’s template brings to mind the 1996 award-winning film Halo about a lost puppy, Adhugo is far from it.

For a film that has a run-time of less than 2 hours, the screenplay penned by Sathyanand sure makes it seem longer. Filled with cliché commercial tropes and tacky scenes in lieu of comedy, Adhugo definitely fails to do justice by its spunky protagonist Bunty. In a time and age when subtle humour seems to rule the roost, Adhugo tries too hard to make people laugh with its comedy of errors that’s anything but comedic. Fat shaming, ghutka spitting, pooping and threats of rape and forced shobanams galore, the film seems to be stuck in a rut it can’t get out of – just like the protagonist Bunty and audience both.

It’s not all bad though, because despite the motley of characters that run around the piglet and fail to elicit laughs, Bunty is so adorably animated, it’s heart-warming whenever he comes on-screen. The quality of the animated pig is good considering the budget it was made on and the time and effort it took to make it come to life. Rajendra Prasad lends his voice to a grown pig that narrates the tale of Bunty as a cautionary tale to his wayward piglet and the veteran actor simply pours life into it. Ravi Babu does a decent enough job with both the role and the direction. Nabha Natesh fails to impress in the limited role she has as the quintessential damsel in distress, so does Abhishek.

Watch this one just for Bunty, if at all. If over-the-top and tacky scenes put you off, give this one a cold, hard miss.