Movie: ABCD
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Madhura Ent, Big Ben and Suresh Productions
Cast: Allu Sirish, Rukshar Dhillon, Bharath, Naga Babu, Raja, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Subhaleka Sudhakar, and others
Dialogues: Kalyan Raghav
Music: Judah Sandhy
Cinematography: Raam
Editor: Navin Nooli
Art: P S Varma
Producers: Madhura Sreedhar Reddy and Yash Rangineni
Director: Sanjeev Reddy
Release date: May 17, 2019
'ABCD - American Born Confused Desi' starring Allu Sirish and Rukshar Dhillon in prominent roles has generated lot of buzz thanks to Sid Sriram’s super hit song 'Mella Mellaga'.
Has the movie lived up to expectations?
Story:
Aravind (Allu Sirish) is born and brought up in America and he doesn’t know the value of money. His father (Naga Babu) sends him off to India so that he would learn true value of life and money.
Along with his friend Baasha (Bharath), he starts living on monthly allowance of Rs 5000 in a slum locality in Hyderabad. Soon he becomes famous and youth icon in Hyderabad.
What happens next is the story.
Artistes’ Performances:
Allu Sirish has rich kid looks and suited to the character but he lacks performance skills to pull off this role.
Bharath has played his side-kick. His comedy, however, doesn’t generate laughs.
Rukshar Dhillon has beautiful looks but her character has nothing much to do.
Naga Babu as NRI father is good. Raja as the politician is okay but his role is unnecessary distraction.
The one who really makes us laugh is Vennela Kishore as TV news anchor.
Technical Excellence:
The film has one catchy song “Mella Mellaga” crooned by Sid Sreeram which already has garnered millions of views on Youtube. This is the only number that is best part of this movie. Rest of the music is so substandard.
Editing is patchy. Art work is decent. Cinematography is okay.
Highlights:
Mella Mellaga song
Vennela Kishore
Drawback:
Weak narration
Outdated scenes
Lengthy runtime
No emotional connect
Analysis
We have recently seen or heard many news articles about rich business men sending off their sons to remote places to get drift of common man’s life and to make them understand how difficult it is to earn money.
“ABCD” deals the same point though it is official remake of Dulquer Salmaan starrer Malayalam comedy movie “ABCD” (2013).
The plot point has enough material to weave an interesting drama out of it. However, this Telugu remake has failed on many fronts from the beginning itself.
The scenes created for entertainment are awfully clichéd. The sequences written to evoke sentiment too are quite predictable. And the narration is flat from the beginning to end.
One of the reasons why the film has created buzz is the song of “Mella Mellaga”. Sadly, this is placed at a time (second half) when audiences start losing the interest in the developments.
Movies with little twists and turns and paper-thin storylines work only when the romantic scenes on the lead pair look fresh and comic sequences even great laughs. “ABCD” lacks both the qualities.
Casting of Allu Sirish for this role itself is a bad decision. This character requires someone who has comic timing, who can enliven the mundane scenes with his energy. Though Sirish has rich kids looks, he has not able to get into the role. His passive acting has further aggravated the routineness.
Sometime back, a video clip of I News anchor Krishna Mohan went viral. Vennela Kishore's character is designed on Krishna Mohan which is quite funny.
While the first half of the movie focusses on Allu Sirish and Bharath’s rich lifestyle, the second half has focused on how he understands the meaning of life but too many necessary scenes are cooked up. Ex: the entire thread of young politician played by Raja is a deviation.
This is another case of good plot point is wasted by uneven narration.
Bottom-line: Confused Desi
(Venkat Arikatla can be reached at [email protected])
