Bhemavaram Bullodu

Story: Save a cameo by Thagubothu Ramesh there is nothing laughable about this movie which seems like a collection of old gags that have long gone out of fashion.

Movie Review: Script writers in Telugu cinema seem to be out of ideas when writing original characters for Sunil. Every character seems to be an extension of the mild mannered, soft spoken village bum, Ramudu, he played in Andala Ramudu, his first film as a solo lead. In fact three out of the five lead characters that Sunil has played till date have been named some variation of Ramu! Be it the all fearing Kovelamudi Ramu in Maryada Ramanna, the very faint hearted constable Sivarama Krishna in Thadaka, you can see the pattern in the names.

The man has shed all the flab and built some rippling muscles, but to no avail. Guess he has a very ‘Ramu’ sort of face. May be he just likes to play to that modest looking, meek man stereotype that is borrowed from the old adage – Ramudu manchi baludu (Ramudu is a good boy). The name has become synonymous with the good natured but some what dim witted underdog characters in Tollywood.

Sunil plays a very docile Bheemavaram native, Ram Babu who can get cowed down even by the prospect of catching flu. One morning he gets hit by a tumbler and to his shock gets diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. The doctor gives him ten days to live and he’s left gutted. Unable to deal with becoming the object of sympathy of the entire village, he tries to kill himself by falling under a running train. But another cancer stricken man (Tanikella Bharani) rescues him in the nick of time and gives him a pep talk.

Inspired, our man sets out to acquire enough good karma so that his deeds live on after his death. So he lands in Hyderabad to wipe away all the bad guys from its precincts. He transforms into a veritable superman who knows no fear. But the moment he learns that his illness was a result of misplaced medical tests, all his fears comeback to haunt him.

Yes he’s also in love with Nandini, the daughter of an eccentric filmmaker who hates the word love. Now it’s the sort of plot that’s as old as the rocks but with some skilful screenplay and smart writing it could have still been salvaged.

Unfortunately that doesn’t happen. Despite having a three time Nandi Award winning actor like Sunil in the midst the filmmakers rely on a slew of forced comic interjections by the likes of Thagubothu Ramesh, Jayaprakash Reddy and Sayaji Shinde to infuse some entertainment. But they end up failing miserably. The writing is so blah that the gags are more likely to induce yawns than laughs.

Sunil is left mouthing half baked lines with a goofy straight face and he ends up looking like a bad caricature. The music and camera work seem like a throwback to small budget comedy films of the nineties.

In one extended comic episode we have Sunil running away from the villains by spraying laughing gas at them. You’d just wish the filmmakers had the good sense of spraying the theatres with some doses of laughing gas.

Note: Save a cameo by Thagubothu Ramesh there is nothing laughable about this movie which seems like a collection of old gags that have long gone out of fashion.