Movie: Loukyam
Rating: 3/5
Banner: Bhavya Creations
Cast: Gopichand, Rakul Preet Singh, Brahmanandam, Chandra Mohan, Sampath, Prudvi and Others
Story, Dialogues: Sridhar Seepana
Screenplay: Kona Venkat, Gopimohan
Music: Anoop Rubens
Cinematography: Vetri
Editor: S. R. Sekhar
Producer: V. Anand Prasad
Direction: Sriwass
Release date: September 26, 2014
Gopichand claimed Loukyam will become a huge hit like Attarintiki Daaredi. Coming a week after the really bad performance of Mahesh’s Aagadu, the release of his film has been timed rather well. So, let’s see if it works in favour of the film:
Story:
The film starts off in Warangal, where the local don Babji’s (Sampath Raj) sister is kidnapped on the day of her wedding by Venky or Venkateswarulu(Gopichand). The hunt for Venky begins and the story then shifts to Hyderabad. Here, Venky meets pretty Chandrakala (Rakul Preet Singh) who is a nightmare of sorts in her college.
Venky loses his heart the moment he sets his eyes on her and woos her till she falls for him. By then, Venky finds out that she is the sister of dreaded Satya (Rahul Dev). Meanwhile, Babji comes to Hyderabad searching for his sister and it turns out that Chandrakala is also his younger sister. From here, the story shifts back to Warangal and tracks how Venky wins over Babji and gets Chandrakala.
Artistes’ Performances:
Gopichand steals the show all the way. He plays his part with ease and manages to dance, fight and gets his comic timing right.
Rakul Preet Singh looks glamourous and dresses well. Her stylist really needs a special mention for putting together an interesting wardrobe for her, especially in the first half.
Sampath Raj also plays his part convincingly. He is the new favourite in the industry and he does not disappoint. Despite Rahul Dev’s presence, he manages to hold his ground and gets a meatier role than both Rahul Dev and Mukesh Rishi who plays Kesava Reddy.
Another major role in the film is played by Brahmanandam as Sippy. He is there throughout the film and plays to the galleries.
Hamsanandini gets to play his sexy wife and also does a hot item number.
Chandra Mohan, Pragati and Raghu Babu put in decent performances. Posani has a blink and go role while Krishna Bhagwan is seen after a long time.
A special mention needs to be made of Prudhvi, who plays TV superstar Burning Star Babloo. He has two episodes in the film both of which have the audience in splits. In fact, the climax becomes more interesting with his parody of Legend’s popular scenes.
Technical Excellence:
The film has a rich look especially in the first half as the songs have been shot abroad. Also, the heroine dresses well and it adds to the overall feel of the film. Screenplay by Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan is good as are cinematography and editing. Anup Rubens of Manam fame has scored the music which is just about average.
After Lakshyam, Srivas once again pairs up with Gopichand and they come up with a decent entertainer yet again. Though the story feels like a hotchpotch of a bunch of films written by Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan, Srivas manages to keep it simple and entertaining.
Highlights:
- Burning Star Babloo
- Overall entertainment quotient
Drawbacks:
- Music
- Routine Story
Analysis:
The release of Loukyam has been timed perfectly and this is bound to work in favour of the film.
After huge disasters from stars like NTR and Mahesh, the audience is bound to have very low expectations from a Gopichand film and this will surely help draw audiences.
To give the team its due credit, Loukyam is a straight-forward, simple entertainer which works because of its comedy scenes.
Gopichand refrains from hard-core action scenes and instead tries his hand at comedy in keeping with the audiences’ preference these days.
Though the script has enough scope for action, director Srivas keeps it light and entertaining throughout. Of course, there are a couple of fights, but that is it.
Though the comic scenes remind you of other popular films, Loukyam still works as it is not pretentious and does not try to be a big film.
The director understands his limitations and makes the most of the cast and crew to come up with a holiday entertainer, which could work thanks to the Dassera vacation.
Usually, it has become a norm of sorts for the hero to land up at the villain’s place during the second half. In Loukyam, Kona Venkat reverses the trend and it is the villain and his entourage who land up at the hero’s place.
Of course, Srivas does try to win the mass audience with his ‘mana pellam’ jokes during the second half, but in all, Loukyam is a decent watch if you don’t go in with high expectations.
Bottomline: Routine comedy
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
