Movie: Chinna Babu
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: 2D Entertainment, Dwaraka Creations
Cast: Karthi, Sayyeshaa, Sathyaraj, Soori, Bhanu Priya, Sreeman, Priyabhavani, Shathru, and others
Music: D. Imman
Editor: Ruban
Cinematography: R.Velraj
Producers: Suriya and Miryala Ravinder Reddy
Written and directed by: Pandiraj
Release date: July 13, 2018
Karthi who has a steady fan following in Telugu states recently tasted big success with 'Khaki'. Riding high on this success, Karthi has now come up with a rural drama about farmers.
Directed by Pandiraj, ‘Chinna Babu’ is touted to be an intense family, action and comedy movie. Let’s find out whether the film has lived up to the hype...
Story:
Chinna Babu (Karthi) is the son of a rich farmer (Sathya Raj) who also takes up farming as his profession much to the delight of his father. His father has two wives and five daughters. His father’s aim is to get a picture of his large family altogether.
Chinna Babu too is a family man and does anything for his uncles, aunts and other relatives. The family wishes him to marry one of his two nieces.
However, he falls in love with another girl (Sayyeshaa) and this leads to misunderstanding among the family members and the uncles and aunts start distancing away from him.
Artistes’ Performances:
Karthi is the strength of this movie. He switches into the role of a farmer and down-to-earth family guy. He gives his best shot in emotional sequences.
Sayyesha and two other heroines are okay. Sathya Raj as Karthi’s father and Bhanupriya as mother are good. Soori provides some good laughs. Shatru as Karthi’s rival is perfect.
Technical Excellence:
The film is entirely shot in rural Tamil Nadu and the lush green locations have given rich look to the movie. Cinematography and editing is neat. Songs hardly register.
Highlights:
Karthi’s show
Emotions
Drawback:
Old-style story
Over dose of sentiments
Analysis:
Aunts and uncles getting upset when their nephew refuses to marry their daughter is common conflict in many old-sentiment movies.
In Karthi’s “Chinna Babu”, this is the major point. When Karthi falls in love with another girl instead of marrying either of two girls in his large extended family, conflict arises, it sets the drama.
Such plotlines are routinely seen in many mega TV serials. However, Tamil director Pandiraj has taken this clichéd and old-fashioned plotline to weave emotions.
He begins the story by establishing protagonist as a proud and ideal farmer who earns lakhs of rupees through farming.
There is also one huge message delivered by Karthi about the importance of farmers, and how farmers should also be credited with the tag of a farmer, like doctors. He also preaches against caste politics.
As we begin to think that the film is about rural politics and farmer issues, it turns into a family soap opera. After he decides to marry the girl he loves, the family begins to fall.
Hero now taking it up as a challenge to unite the family becomes main plot. Sentiments, sacrifices, tears, emotions and melodrama all are packaged together making it a glossy sentiment drama in rural backdrop.
However, it doesn’t turn into another TV serial as director comes up with his own intriguing sequences and adds lots of funny scenes.
One of hero’s uncle’s drinking habits is shown in most funny way. There are also some good lines about aunts. The jokes are neat.
As long as you watch, you don’t feel bored. But beneath all the jokes and emotional scenes, the plot and the scenes make you feel that it is too-archaic.
Though the film is dubbed into Telugu and is said to be set in Rajamundry, the story and the situations are full of Tamil flavor.
Karthi’s “Chinna Babu” doesn’t offer novelty, but this rustic sentiment drama is a pretty watchable fare due to the actor’s performances and some jokes. This will appeal to those who like to see old-style family dramas.
Bottom-line: Old School
